Dream a Good One Tonight
by Fae Dreamdance
Summary: J'onn receives a request for assistance through unconventional means. When he answers the call he ends up in a world not his own, but not entirely unlike it, and is reminded why he upholds justice and participates in actively protecting those in need.
1. Chapter 1

**Dream a Good One Tonight  
**Chapter 1

Lex Luthor was poised in his seat; not because he needed to be in order to maintain some level of control, but instead because his arrogant streak was corroborated by clout to circumvent him from being humble and therefore incapable of slouching. In fact, he considered himself the most powerful man on the planet, if not in the very existence of all life forms. There was a time that such an idea would have been a matter of controversy, a mere hope in a sea of impossibility. Today there was no question as to the truth in such a statement. He fancied the idea that he owned Metropolis, and every other no name town from where he was perched to every stretch of ocean and land. On paper, it may have been true; but only should he put his empire together in such a manner.

"What do you have for me?" He asked in a smooth voice. Under normal conditions, and perhaps in better company, it might seem inviting. But when on the tongue of Lex Luthor, in his natural habitat and highly expensive executive chair, it was hardly something to be considered pleasant. If anything, the more warmth that seemed present acted as a warning to proceed with caution. It was more like the faux praise of a reigning dictator hoping to urge his subjects into submission through manipulation, which for Lex wasn't far from the truth on the dictator front or the manipulation one.

"Numbers." Said the shaky voiced scientist, his eyes turned towards the wall behind Lex as if he was too afraid to look him directly in the eyes. He was visibly trembling as the paper in his hands shook a little bit. The concept made Lex internally sneer and externally smile, pleasantly amused and disgusted by the same weakness.

"Well if I wanted numbers I would have hired an accountant. Instead, I want **_answers_** so I hired you." He cooed in a low and dangerous hum. The way he spoke mimicked that of an adult directing to a small child, but in a way that did nothing but cleverly demean the other. He leaned forward, placing his folded hands on top of the ridiculously priced marble desk that he just had to have. The man recoiled and even let out a little chirp of surprise and fear. For it, Lex felt his brow pull together slightly between his eyes. "I'm not hearing anything that sounds remotely like an answer I can use, doctor. What have you been doing all this time?" Lex almost sang his taunt, hoping to further scare the already terrified scientist.

"You also hired for quality over speed and answers don't come overnight. We're scientists, not God. What you're asking for is a miracle." This voice didn't belong to the cowering physician before him, but rather another who appeared from the main double doors that led into Lex's office. This man's posture was not nearly as certain as Lex liked in an opponent, but far from his unsure coworker. He was the one heading the research. Although nerdy and skinny, he had annoying passion when it came to the topic at hand. Lex viewed him the way he view an irksome yet persistent fly. One that wasn't to the point that required termination, or even a second glance, except for when it buzzed too close and a warning swat was delivered before the fly ducked out of dodge. Payton often did just that; he ducked just in time to miss Lex's proverbial hand.

Lex viewed him just the way he did everyone else-lesser. And for Payton's lack of conviction in everything but his research, Lex was probably right. "Dr. Lionel, I was wondering when we might be graced with your presence." Lex's voice perked, but it - like the smooth initial question for Payton's subordinate - was not nearly what it seemed. "Please, if you have the time, do translate for our friend here as I seem to be getting nowhere."

Payton's head swiveled to the timid and still slightly cowering man. "Leave us Dr. Thomas." Payton said with a soft sigh and genuine measure of sympathy to his tone. He waited until the other doctor left before he spoke again, his voice soft still. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know, Lex." Payton paused on his boss's name. It was a point of contention as Lex had insisted on Payton calling him by his given name. Lex knew it made Payton uncomfortable as he had been Mr. Luthor since the day Payton walked through the door, out of respect. When Lex had insisted on shedding the formal surname, Payton had squirmed and refused for a long time. Now it was like a game; Lex got to watch the introverted, yet brilliant, doctor grapple with being forced to call his boss by his informal name. Like they were friends, though Lex would contend that he and Payton were not the sort to be a part of some contrived definition of friendship. One corner of Lex's mouth turned up as his name caught on Payton's voice. He didn't outwardly writhe in his spot now, but he always showed some sign of discomfort and it made Lex feel superior, like he had yet more control over those he paid. "But I need to know what information you're seeking." Payton cleared his throat as he spoke, recovering from the verbal stumble.

"How about a status report Dr. Lionel. Something worth my time." Lex rose from his seat, taking careful stride to one of the decorative paintings in his office as if that caught his attention more than Payton could. His hands slipped behind his back and he glanced at Payton from the corner of his eye. The doctor was momentary silent as he pondered what it was he wanted to convey. Of all the things in his life, his research was the one thing he had confidence about. True, genuine confidence that Lex was happy to harness. "And don't bore me with an artificially inflated outlook of progress you think I want to hear. I want the truth accordingly."

Payton remained stationary but confident as his hands slipped to the pockets of his white lab coat. "Testing shows the same thing we both expected and have seen before. We're not to the point that we can genetically engineer a specimen, but we're down to the core base pairs that build the DNA. It's simply matter of forcing them to undergo natural biological processes; duplicating without completely unraveling the genes we're interested in and thus creating something that will immediately die. We should have access to a full map in the next few weeks, though we'd rather not rush like before. At that point, we can proceed with practical testing and move away from the lab." He said.

"Good. Was that so hard an answer to give?" Lex asked, his eyebrow arched as he had turned to look fully at Payton. "That will be all then. I look forward to the weeks to come. Oh...and one more thing." Lex paused after Payton had already turned to go. The lanky doctor paused and glanced back over his shoulder. "Don't be cautious as I know you're one to do. It serves no one any good. I want the risks-what do we have to lose?" Lex was very clear in his tone and his demeanor; it was assertive. Though the small raise of his voice on the end of his query was a tiny bit too cheerful.

Payton stared back at him with a hard look on his face. "Nothing at all." It was the last warning Lex would give and both men seemed to understand that.

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**Author's Note** :: _This story is the conglomerate effort of two authors. Follow us to the madness beyond...we hope you won't be disappointed. Please, if you have a moment stop to let us know what you think. It would be very appreciated._


	2. Chapter 2

**Dream a Good One Tonight**

Chapter 2

This was an important moment, but not unlike many others where they found themselves as the guests of honor. The Justice League was at the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new four block park that was in the heart of Metropolis. It would serve as the newly renovated recreational center for the youth of the city, with basketball and tennis courts as well as housing a playscape for smaller children. There was a swing set, see-saw and jungle gym to offer the most outstanding in playtime festivities. A library was planned for one corner in future months and a variety of other socially enriching oddities were to come. It was a new initiative instigated by the local government to boost the city's ever evolving culture and set the hope of the people toward success.

J'onn had peeled off like the rest of them; each had their own way to show support for the cause. Much of the attention, however, as it often was, was on Superman. It didn't bother the Martian in the least as his goal was not popularity but rather prosperity. Beyond that, Superman was perfectly fine in the spotlight, encouraging the fine citizens to support the latest upgrade of their society. Lately, J'onn had been experiencing something that he had not experienced in the past, at least not like this-headaches. It was as if something, or someone, was trying to break through the barrier of his mind with brute force and, as they did so, chiseled away the delicate parts of his sanity. He couldn't quite put to words what it was like and as a result, he had not drawn attention to it among his friends. He worried, however, that soon he would need to do so as it was distracting him in possibly dangerous amounts.

That was the case right then. He couldn't seem to focus on the excited and happy faces around him. It was alarming in a way that J'onn wasn't use to as he had _never_ been so detached from his own control and capability. He skirted, his blue cape wiping a little with his force, around the outside of the playscape where dozens of children were screaming their approval as they took to the slide at full speed. The shadows under his feet, as his head bobbed forward a little while blinking hard to clear his head, blurred together. He had to stop walking, shake his head slightly and gather his bearings as the fuzzy edges of the shadows certainly weren't right, nor the way they seemed to make one blob of translucent gray under his feet. It was, as he did so, then that one of the shadows seemed to peel away from the rest. J'onn shook his head again in disbelief, looking up for a moment towards the children on the slide. Their shadows didn't match the one that had moved, nor did any one else's around him. In fact the shadow seemed to have no solid source to cast it whatsoever. The shadow seemed to tremble in fear as his disbelief and uncertainty skyrocketed, but it remained - bodiless and without an animate object to have actually created it.

It moved against the ground, seeming to dance in erratic circles, until it bounced off across the pavement and grass. It paused once it was a few yards away, as it suddenly stopped. J'onn reached up to touch his pounding head, rubbing hard at the soft part of his temple to regain blood flow that had clearly been cut off. It felt as if something was trying to escape from inside his cranium for the pain he felt and for a moment he considered that maybe he was hallucinating. When the thought crossed his mind, the shadow's fuzzy edges defined themselves fully to a recognizable shape. It seemed to be that of a person, or something bi-pedal at least. It raised it's hand and bent it's wrist, curling it's fingers as if urging him to follow. Reluctantly, and with overwhelming confusion, J'onn took a step forward in hopes that maybe the shadow would react in a way that made sense. In response, the independent shadow took a step forward with him, maintaining the same distance it was before. For every one footfall onward J'onn took, the shadow did the same until he was at the mouth of the small clump of trees that had been buried in the south corner of the park.

It was when he made it to this particular spot that the peak of his pain seemed to crest, as if the cluster of trees was the source of such a sensation. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it or if he had truly seen the shadow dance off into the woods. The figure seemed to melt into the other thick dark masses on the ground that were actual representative of the trees overhead. Furthermore, the headaches he'd been having, the restless and sleepless nights for the past several weeks, didn't help his understanding of any of this. Normally he was sharp and quick to understand and certainly comprehend, but it was as if this had befuddled his senses. All he knew now was that he needed to make this stop and he was fairly certain this shadow, his mind had likely conjured up, had something to do with it. He just hadn't realized how bad it had all gotten.

_Help..._

J'onn's head lifted and his eyes swept silently around him in a circle. It sounded like a child, somehow distant in the woods or in the back of his mind - he couldn't seem to decipher between the two. He couldn't even fathom that it might be a trick, or analyze if it wasn't. Instead, he moved forward, without consideration to his own welfare, into the mass of trees. It was as if that was the threshold; between his non-verbal agreement to help whoever called for it and the trouble with his fatigued mind that he slipped into the magic of that which he couldn't perceive. And maybe never would.

"I hope you know what you're doing. But I'm betting not." He heard a skeptical voice echo around him, as if coming from the actual trees he assumed were still there. His vision was still dark, dark enough where he could see nothing, but his head didn't hurt anymore, it just felt heavy. He felt somehow strange, despite the way the pressure had evaporated behind his eyes and his brain seemed to be as aptly aware of everything as it normally was. It was a refreshing feeling, almost rested, for how frazzled his mind had been moments before. The last thing he could fully remember was stepping into the darkness of the woods and now nothing but bliss from his pain.

"I do. I know - he can help us...he was the only one that could hear us. He has to be able to help." A second voice responded kindly - hopeful. There almost seemed to be a smile in the voice for how cheerful it was.

"Hear _you_. Whining and crying like a kid." The first snapped. "I think you were killing him, and then what good would he be? He didn't look comfortable, even through the gray haze of that place. Fat luck it had to be one that looked like..._that_. You couldn't have been more specific? You know, because it's safe to walk out in public with a giant alien looking man. Giant _green_, alien looking man. You're an idiot, Murph." It was feminine, the first voice, J'onn determined as he blinked his eyes open, easing them to the light. The second, more cheerful and masculine one, greeted him the second his eyes fluttered to let light in.

"Howdy, it's Murphy! I'm Murphy." He clarified. "We're glad you're awake, we were starting to worry. Thanks for coming." He said with a lopsided, but friendly smile. Shaggy dark, unkempt bangs hung in the young man's face as he extended a hand to the Martian lying on the ground. He had an oddly wise face for how young he sounded in his optimism. "The mouthy, unpleasant one behind me is Joey. She was born that way - in more ways than one. Don't worry, she won't bite."

J'onn sat up, slowly. He nodded lightly to each of Murphy's words, though mostly out of politeness as he was unprepared to meet new people. His posture was poised and unfaltering still as he pushed himself to sit. A moment later, he surveyed the man called Murphy in more detail, giving him his attention now that he could center himself. The wisdom on his face and cheerfulness in his voice were honest, J'onn's mind could sense that he wasn't lying or trying to manipulate. "I hardly came with intention to be here. There is no need for gratitude. I am afraid our meeting isn't under pleasant circumstances, Murphy." It was then, as J'onn's vision had fully returned, that he was able to view the surrounding area. It was open, though under him was concrete, he could distinctly feel the pavement's hard, unwelcoming grip on his cape. Beyond them, he recognized the outline of the skyline. He was in the exact same spot he'd been before his head cleared; however, it looked different in many ways. The skyline was the same in shiloutte alone. There was no playscape, no children, no trees and certainly no people there to celebrate. In fact, it was nothing but a concrete jungle there and he couldn't actually see a hint of green among the gray and drab as if the city itself was sick. A thick layer of ominous black clouds lined the sky and a bit of stray newspaper breezed past on the wind. "How did I come to be here?" His deep and even toned bass of a voice queried the two, his inquisitive eyes turned back to Murphy.

"Magic." A third voice answered behind him and J'onn turned in his spot to peer at the owner of the voice, one he had not spotted before as his senses were assaulted by too much to take notice. He was a lanky man with hair that stuck straight out in jagged little spikes that appeared as if he had his hand on a static ball. Even his eyes were open extra wide and he looked like he was trembling slightly. He was fidgeting, rapidly smoothing the front of his vest and picking at the ends of his crazy hair as he spoke swiftly. "It was magic, most definitely magic. Of a special nature, though there are all kinds you know. This was just but one. Ash...I'm Ashton Lionel." He said gesturing to himself before slipping his hand again against his vest to smooth down invisible wrinkles. J'onn offered his hand to greet Ash, as Murphy had taken it in a customary greeting that J'onn was use to seeing performed among humanity. Ash drew his hands up sharply and folded them at his breastbone, looking skeptically at J'onn's extended hand. He even visibly trembled for a moment, seemingly startled by what he was seeing. His head shook quickly, as if it was attached to a fishing bobber, and his neck even seemed to move with impossible speed. "Forgive me if I don't shake." He said with a little frown before smoothing at the non-existent wrinkles of his outer garment.

"Don't mind Ash," the woman leaned over J'onn's shoulder and took up the offered hand at an odd angle from how she leaned over him. "He's a little...ahh shall we say emotionally _charged_?" She smirked at Ash before pointing her narrow black eyes, cynical in nature, back at J'onn and shaking his hand in a big showy, awkward greeting. It was as if she'd intended it to be as awkward as it was, almost as if she was annoyed by him. "For the record, I'm not unpleasant when in good company. And I'm only a _little_ mouthy." She pointed out before jerking her hand away and J'onn was left with an empty hand and a moment of confusion. He had no clue who these people were-nor where it was that he had ended up-and he couldn't see an explanation anywhere in sight. He wanted to know who was hurt so that he might help them and then get home - wherever home was. He glanced back at her before looking to Murphy.

"I am certain I heard a plea for help. A child, perhaps, in grave danger - surely something is wrong. I must locate them." A question was implied in his tone. Silence filled the three around him, bemusing J'onn even more as he could see in their glances amid one another indicating that they were not confused, but hesitant in answering his question.

"Well, we're in need of help - no doubts there. Something is most definitely wrong; thats an understatement." Murphy said, clearing his throat somewhat nervously. "What's your name, big guy? Intuitive, big guy rather. The intuitative part is important. Let's start there-then we can fill in those holes. I just hope you'll still want to help us." He offered to help J'onn to his feet. The Martian, however, pushed himself up with a grace that seemed effortless - and for him, it was.

"I am called J'onn." He told them and Joey, the smallest of them, seemed to leaned back looking up to him as he came to his full height.

"Oh yeah," She said with a deep scowl lining her face; however, she was clearly awestruck by J'onn's size, "this is going to be great. Real inconspicuous, Murphy. Did I mention you're an idiot? There aren't quite enough insults to hurl at you that might sum it up." She looked back at the good humored one of them. He merely shrugged and smiled up at J'onn. J'onn's attention went to her, he peered down at the skinny and awkward looking woman.

"Does my appearance alarm you?" He asked simply.

"No, not me." She shook her head and jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at a couple who were walking hand in hand. The girl moved closer to her boyfriend and the man picked up his pace as they both issued J'onn frightened glances. "Them. And eveyone like them." J'onn bowed his head slightly, confused as he had not yet met a human who was truly afraid of him for his appearance. He was considering her words and what exactly she was if not like them them when the scrawny woman folded her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow at him. "I'm not 'alarmed' by anything, for the record." She told him, as if it were a challenge issued only to him.

The Martian merely considered her for a moment, wondering what she had to prove. She, like Murphy, had good intentions - that much was clear on the surface of her thoughts, despite her seemingly bad attitude. "It's nice to meet you, J'onn." Ash added in a hasty voice that trembled and buzzed slightingly with his own jerky and seemingly nervous ticks. "It was, as I'm sure you've deduced, us who asked for your help. We need it...badly, we need it. And the way we brought you here, though unconventional, wasn't meant to be a trick if thats what you think. We aren't tricksters - we just need help because its out of our control. It was the only way we could communicate with you. With anyone even...you just happened to be the only one that could hear. I suspect it has something to do with your brain and synapses - you must have irregular electric patterns. Are you telepathic?" The answer was already inside of Ash's mind, before it met air and became words, as J'onn responded simultaneously with his answer.

"Yes." His stoic bass echoed in contrast to the fidgety one, while the others heard only his verbal response. "Why didn't you simply contact the Justice League?" He asked honestly in the same non aggressive manner J'onn was known to have. He assumed it would have been easier than searching, however they had done it, to hope to find someone. He watched the three of them exchange glances again but Joey, and her mouth, had already responded on their behalf.

"The _what_?"


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note :: Hello dear readers. First may we thank you for reading our story. It is greatly appreciated. We do hope you enjoy it and would really, really be grateful for any comments you may have. Please, if you like it - hate it - or otherwise...we'd really like to know. Thank you, once more, for reading. V/R ::M & J::

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**Dream a Good One Tonight**

Chapter 3

J'onn felt an eerie chill pass over him like a bucket of cold water thrown down the surface of his spine. His muscles tensed up tight as he resisted the urge to shiver. There was something very wrong about this place; not simply in a way that made him alert for the danger to come, but in a way that seemed to shake the fabric of what he knew to be true. He knew before this moment that something was amiss, as this place was not in the vein of his familiarity. However, it seemed much, much worse when he was faced with the idea of a world with no Justice League. A world with no leadership in protection against that which was meant to destroy it. He had considered that they weren't serious; however, not a single one of them was projecting anything remotely indicative of deceit. Instead, they were all curious, if not entirely confused, by what J'onn was questioning. "Superman, perhaps you could have contacted Superman." J'onn, as he often did, drew out the first vowel in his fellow hero's name causing him to almost add another syllable to his friend's alias. It was his effort to try and find something, or someone, familiar to what he knew.

Once more the three seemed suspicious of J'onn's logic. "Superman's dead." Ash said in a remorseful manner, almost apologetic for a moment as his energy waned. He paused, his twitching stopped and he straightened in his spot, further smoothing his vest out. "Lex killed him nearly...ten years ago now. I remember it, the nation wept. I was young then. We all were." J'onn felt his heart sink and disappointment wash over him, though it didn't show externally. Instead, the panic and worry that bubbled in his chest was contained against the strength of his rib cage. Even Joey had no commentary to add to Ash's news.

"Diana, Wonder Woman, surely you've heard of her. She must be here to help in Superman's stead." J'onn's voice never changed tone or meter as he spoke; however, inside he could feel himself slowly start to dip into a disappointment all his own.

"Never heard of her." Murphy retorted with a little shrug, confused as J'onn could hear the young man trying to rack his brain, for just a moment, to find a name similar to what he had asked.

"Batman..." J'onn paused, afraid of the answer he would receive from these three as he slowly ticked down the list of people who inevitably wouldn't be there.

"Dead as well." Murphy explained swiftly, but Ash seemed to squirm a little more than normal, which was an oddity to see as he was already restless.

"He's not dead, don't say that when it isn't necessarily the truth. He just hasn't been seen in nearly a decade. That doesn't mean he's necessarily dead, you know that. Missing doesn't always mean dead around here." Ash corrected with a buzz to his voice and J'onn's head bowed fully. The news was hard to take. He had been to other Earths, one dangerous for the fact that he and his friends roles were reversed with that of whom they considered villains. He had not, however, experienced a world - he couldn't even imagine it - where they were dead or nonexistent and no similiar copy was present in their place. Where their duties couldn't be carried out, and they couldn't help those in trouble, simply because they weren't there to do so.

"I supposed you expect you were part of this Justice League and next you'll ask about yourself. I think we would have noticed a green giant blundering around here. I'm not sure if that's arrogant, conceited, awesome or just plain bizarre of you to think. Or a combination of all four maybe." Joey smirked and J'onn felt his heavy brow furrow momentarily. She was taunting him, or mocking him - that much he could tell however he couldn't tell which. It was somewhat uncomfortable for him though as he couldn't figure out how it was fun. Not when he felt nothing but confusion and sadness for his fallen friends and peers.

"Actually, I am." He told her plainly; he didn't do so to boast or even to put her in her place. He simply told her the truth because it was just that - the truth, whereas what she believed was not.

Her mouth circled into a small 'o', in disbelief and uncertainty, but before she could go on, Murphy gave her a little push out of the way. He stepped into the very spot she'd occupied seconds before. "J'onn, it doesn't matter." He was clearly concerned as his voice was painted with tentative hesitancy. "Your world isn't ours. Not really. What happens here is different from what happens where you're from - if it were the same, we wouldn't have the need to call for help because this Justice League as you call them, would have already answered. And here, in this world, we need _your_help. You're all we have left. Please, can we just worry about that? No one's coming to help us, not Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman...just you. You're the one that answered and the one that we need to help. Please."

J'onn didn't move to square his shoulders or straighten his back, as he was already in perfect posture. But internally he centered himself with this new knowledge and new alignment of his agenda. Home, his home, his world, was something he had considered. It was in the back of his mind but not a place he need to go right then. Instead his primary concern was to offer assistance to these three misfits, if he could in fact do that. He wasn't the sort to weigh the options, consider the risks or hesitate like Batman might. He was prepared to offer whatever he could to whomever needed it, friends and strangers alike. "Very well." He nodded.

A small smirk crossed Ash's face and the fidgeting stopped for a brief second, approval J'onn heard in his mind. Murphy lit up like a candle, hope J'onn received from him. Joey sank back on one hip stuffing a hand in her back pocket, relief J'onn got from her."Tell me of your world and how I can be of assistance."

Ash gave a little chirp nearby to him and shook his head with a few quick jerks. "Not here - it's too exposed, too many people. Too many dangers. Come with us, please. We can tell you; better yet, we can _show_ you." J'onn internally frowned as he was confused by Ash's statement; that was, however, before the three of them seemed to move with ease and disappear in various directions.

Joey had slipped back with a few steps, her feet falling to the edge of a shadow cast by J'onn's tall frame. It was as she reached the very edge of it that she seemed to actually disappear _into_it. A moment later, her hand appeared from nowhere, the only spot that it connected to was the edge of J'onn's shadow. Her hand closed around a fist full of Murphy's shirt. He had smiled first at J'onn before he was jerked into a seemingly invisible void. "Keep up." Ash had uttered quickly before he glanced around them and burst into a shower of sparks; as if Ash himself had exploded. Ash was gone from his spot and J'onn saw a series of purple sparks fly from the electrical line nearby with a crack. They seemed to be condensed to one spot and then travelled along the line at a rapid pace. It took all of a few seconds for J'onn to deduce that the burst of electrcity in the lines was Ash and to follow. He jumped to the sky effortless and took to flight. He could see a glow to the lines where he assumed Ash was traveling and it was that glow he followed all the way to a building where the sparks disappeared. J'onn followed still, his body passing like water through the brick surface.

He landed softly on the ground just as he saw Joey step from a darkened corner of the room, where no light shined, and one of the light bulbs that was actually lit cracked and then broke as Ash was spit from it. He landed on the ground with much less grace than J'onn exhibeted as his body phased back to solid. Ash's hair was standing even more on end and he was smoothing out his clothes quickly, little sparks of light and energy appearing between his skin and the fabric. In fact it may have been that he was even pushing little purple sparks of electric out of his clothes.

J'onn was somewhat comforted by their rather obvious use of powers. He had met his fair share of people who had super human abilities, but used them for evil or villainy. These three still showed no signs of malice. J'onn's eyes swept the room. For a building that seemed dilapidated and ancient, the inside was hardly anything like the outside. It was pristine with white walls and uniformity to the inside - in fact, it appeared to be a lab of some sort. There were beakers and Bunsen burners and a plethora of labled jars of varying size, short to tall, on shelves that lined the wall. Joey paused very breifly to swat a stack of papers off from the counter. They zipped through the air between she and Ash who were facing one another. She snickered as the wiry man, without even thinking, dropped to his knees to shuffle them into a neat little pile. She winked at J'onn. "Works every time." She teased with a broad smile. It was the first time he could recall her ever smiling, but there was some honesty there in the way the top line of white teeth showed from her grin. Though he couldn't fathom why it was amusing to her as he didn't understand how her particular brand of playfulness manifested. She was curious to him in a way that made him anxious to learn more - should he have the patience.

"Yo! Shiki." She hollared a minute later, turning her head around. "Company." She offered a palm up to J'onn as if that was her best introduction. At first, J'onn had not noticed the man as he was too consumed by the rest of the lab. He was leaning behind one of the many tables set up, his head ducked down behind the beakers as he worked from a few of the open containers. His hand was scribbling along a piece of paper, but he had stopped abruptly when he was called. When he rose up from behind the line of glass tubes, J'onn was faced with a winged man who appeared twice his height for their length. He wasn't all that different than Hawkgirl in base form, but his wings were bigger, rougher and pitch black in color. He was clearly Asian in descent with long matching raven colored hair that framed his face, completely with inky black eyes and pale skin. "Now why would your appearnce scare me?" Joey asked J'onn cheerfully, clapping J'onn on the shoulder. "We're a collection of freaks. If wings don't scare me, green won't either."

"Indeed." J'onn glanced down at her in passing but she had already moved forward to plop, unceremoniously down in one of the nearby chairs. "I am J'onn J'onzz." He told the winged man.

The Asian nodded, his wings rustling behind him. "I am Yoshiki Yamada. But I more often known as simply Shiki. Thank goodness you're here. Thank you for coming, we could use your help." Shiki's accented voice was songish in nature but it sounded, if J'onn could identify the key, sad or melancholy. "I hope you can help us. If not you...then no one." He said with a respectful bow of his head. This man, of all of them, calmed J'onn. He could understand Shiki in his peaceful demeanor and calming presence.

"I will do what I can." J'onn said. No sooner had the words exited his mouth and the door burst open. J'onn turned swiftly. Alarm rose in the Martian and he considered who was nearest to him and how he might protect them from any incoming danger. The person who came in, however, was not an immediate threat - J'onn could hear it on the newcomer's mind. It was common for him, as a defense mechanism, to swiftly scan the mind of an opponnet. There he was looking for primarily devious thoughts, things that could indicate what sort of trouble or danger was to come.

"Ash!" The man who, with red flushed cheeks, came through the doors barked and the crazed electical man leaned around J'onn as the Martian had automatically stepped in front of him, as Ash was the one nearest to him.

"It's okay J'onn. He's my brother, Payton. He's means no harm." Ash explained, carefully scooting around the alien, but being sure to give him enough space that they didn't touch. J'onn wasn't sure if this was becuase of the rather obvious static charge he carried or because he choose to keep a reasonable distance. The latter seemed to be J'onn's conclusion as Ash had not taken his hand in initial greeting. "What's wrong Payton? You sound -" but Ash couldn't get any more out before Payton cut him off.

"No time! You have to leave, before its too late. Get out now! All of you! Lex...he knows. He's been monitoring the surges in power to determine where _you_ go. You must have traveled by the line. He followed it, his people will be here...any second. I will find you later. Go now!" Payton pointed to the door while simultaneously gathering up papers and files from various cabinets around him, but it was too late.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note :: We are curious as to your thoughts. It's frightening from where we are as we have received no feed back. Have we misused J'onn? Or Lex? Is it a disappointment or are you enjoying this story in any way? Please, if you could, we would love to know what you think. Respectfully, Your Authors

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**Dream a Good One Tonight**  
Chapter 4

J'onn felt the pressure in the building expand before all the windows that lined the room near the ceiling shattered, sending shards of glass, which acted like razor projectiles, in all directions. Chunks bounced off the tables and further broke beakers, various colored liquids spilling everywhere. He, in an instant, went incorporeal. Even so, he could feel the breeze as the shards slipped through him without any trouble whatsoever. The others weren't so lucky. Ash ducked under a nearby table with Payton and a string of papers following him. Murphy was hunched over with his hands over his head, but the bits of his arms that were up had been sliced up. Joey slipped behind the chair she was sitting in, angry red slashes visible on her skin and her clothing from the deep cuts made through her fabric, rapidly staining them in her own blood.

"J'onn!" She shouted, leaping over the chair and catching his arm with both her hands once the glass had settled. "You're the only one that can fly." She was in a panic. "Shiki! You have to stop Shiki!" She pointed to up to the windows where the man had taken to flight and was facing the monsters, whom were climbing in through the broken windows - dozens of them, hissing and sputtering. He looked at her very briefly and in her frenzy of worry, her mind's fears and thoughts echoed in his. He didn't mean to invade her mind, but it seemed as if she had, in some way, reached out to him via her internal plea. _Ash is useless when Payton is in danger, he won't do us any good. They won't be able to help anyone but each other. Murph's already gone, he can't stand them alone. It's just you and me, please don't let us down. For the love of God, don't let us down. _"J'onn!" Her voice was shrill as panic flooded her, her fingers tightening even more around the thick of his arm. He didn't hesitate a second longer, though he felt a pang of concern as he left her there on the ground with no one to protect her as more and more of the abominations poured in. He, however, had to trust right then that she could handle herself while he took care of the erratic winged man.

They were on the lab floor now, a variety of mismatched animals that seemed somehow crossed with humans. Their hybrid nature made them swift even if they moved awkwardly. Some had wings with cat-like bodies and mostly human heads. Others were massive in body with bear claws and bushy tails. It was hard to tell what part of them was their base as they were so many combinations that made them unrecognizable as one species. The only commonality was the human trait; like experiments gone wrong. They were primarily bipedal, but some used all four feet to enhance their speed as their skin was dotted with the spots of a leopard or a cheetah.

J'onn moved with grace through the air, head on to where Shiki was. "He's not a fighter." He heard Joey call after him just before there was a bone crushing slam behind him. He didn't look back as not to be distracted if Joey was in need of help and it was she that had received the blow and not delivered it. The raven winged man seemed to be on a mission as he dodged creatures who dove for him, some leaping out to catch him only to helplessly tumble to the ground as they had no way to fly. J'onn watched Shiki, as it seemed he found what he was looking for, ram his shoulder into a man who was also flying with the same sort of raven colored wings and pale skin. This one, though Asian like Shiki, was blonde. The two went end over end and J'onn drew to a momentary stop as he wasn't sure how to separate them without hurting Shiki too. He started to move forward to catch Shiki, perhaps by simply pushing his arm through the blonde's middle by way of his transparent ability, but he couldn't quite tell which was which for how fast they were moving and how their wings blended together.

"Daichi, stop! Love, please stop! This isn't you, you're not this man - " J'onn heard Shiki huff in a heavy breath as they wrestled in the air. The blonde, raven winged man clocked Shiki in the jaw in response, hard enough to send him end over end in midair. J'onn glanced back down to where Joey was moments before. She was looking up to him as well. Their eyes met and she dodged a swat from a bear paw. _I'll come to you..._J'onn heard as Joey scrambled, swiftly scanning the floor. He hesitated only for that reason, though he had flown forward to cut Daichi off from further attacking Shiki who was hovering in the air with little flaps of his wings. She, like J'onn had seen before, slipped into a shadow and disappeared. A second later, he felt a heavy tug on his cape and then, he felt more weight placed on his back as she was scrambling up to reach his neck. It shocked him to have her suddenly there, particularly as he could feel her much smaller arms wrap around his neck to keep from losing her grip. "Your cape whips around too much, I blame you for it. I thought I was going to get torn in half, it wouldn't be pretty. It makes a shitty shadow, J'onn." She hissed into his ear. "At least there was a shadow to come out of." She told him squeezing tighter to him, clearly afraid of the height they were at.

"I won't let you fall." J'onn said to her, his voice raised, but not his tone, over the wind whipping around them.

"That's reassuring since I'm about to ask you to throw me." She shouted back and grinned wide at him as he had to twist his head a little to look at her. He drew his head back a little in shock and she nodded at him, her smile growing slightly. "Throw me at Shiki, J'onn! Now!" She screamed over the wind that was making it difficult to communicate at this height. He was hesitant to obey her request, mostly because it went against his instinct to protect, but she squirmed around in front of him so he was holding her. She was even tinier when she was actually in his arms. "He makes bad choices when Daichi is around, he can't be trusted with his own well being. Don't blame him. He doesn't mean to make it difficult for us." It was the first time he'd seen her soften and it was very obvious that she had. "It sucks to be in love, particularly when it makes you that stupid." She shrugged with a sad little smile before she waved her hand toward Shiki frantically as if indicating that they'd waited too long already.

"Do not make me regret this." He said briefly, shaking his head as he couldn't believe he was allowing himself to agree to what she was asking. But he had no reason not to trust what she had in store. J'onn reluctantly drew her over his head and pitched her, with a good deal of force, but certainly not all of his might, toward Shiki. The birdman was still a few feet away from the blonde, black-winged man. Shiki had barely just gotten his bearings when Joey slammed into him, pushing them both through the air. J'onn watched on with wide eyes as Shiki vanished when Joey gave the winged man a hearty push into a shadow being cast on the spot where the wall and window met. He skidded, face first, out of a shadow that was present on the ground below them. Joey, however, flailed for a moment - not having made it into the shadow with Shiki as a cloud overhead shifted and the shadow disappeared before she could follow flawlessly behind. "EEEEP!" She cried out as she plummeted.

J'onn immediately dove with her. He was a few seconds behind her as he had lingered at a distance. Clearly, however, she hadn't planned for this as a fall from her height would certainly do damage to her body and she didn't have the ability to fly like he did. He reached out and scooped her up mere feet from the floor, her black hair hanging heavily down around her face. "Man of your word." She began before reconsidering, "Well, sort of. I totally still fell." She told him breathlessly, climbing from his arms and offering him a sideways smile after he gave her a curious glance at her snide remark. It was then that he realized, by the grin on her lips, that she was grateful and her comment wasn't mocking him, but her own way of conveying gratitude. Joey's way of saying thanks.

She turned around just in time for Shiki to catch her around the neck and slam her into the nearest wall with all the force the much bigger and stronger man had. He was practically feral, J'onn could feel it radiating off of him as he no longer felt like a human but an animal. The calming sensation he'd received from Shiki before was gone and now the man was a mess. J'onn wasn't sure how to process what was causing it. Joey coughed. "If he dies in this, his blood is on your hands and I _will_kill you. I had it!" He hissed and even as she was being choked, Joey smirked, "Sure ya did." And then proceeded to cough harder as she fought for breath.

"Shiki..." J'onn took a step forward, lifting one of Shiki's hands with ease. They were being surrounded, he could hear the muddled minds of the monsters as they closed in. The last thing they needed was to be distracted by their own emotions. "Perhaps now is not the ideal time." Shiki's beady eyes snapped to J'onn and for a moment, J'onn could see that Shiki was prepared to attack him next.

"Thanks." Joey squeaked. J'onn wasn't sure why she said it, but he felt her hand closer around his forearm and in an instant he felt himself get dizzy. It was almost the same feeling he'd had before he woke up to Murphy, Joey and Ash. His stomach turned and he thought he might pass out. He was dumped out with her and Shiki in a sunny pasture. Puffy white clouds were casting dense shadows on the ground, dappling the grass and giving Joey a playground with which to use her gifts. Right then J'onn knew it was to get them to safety and he had diverted Shiki's attention long enough for Joey to help them escape. The cows that surrounded them were not alarmed by the sudden appearance of three strangers. In fact, only one or two lifted their heads from their grazing to even acknowledge their existence before going back to the delectable grass beneath them.

"Shiki," Joey started but he lifted a hand to silence her before he shook his head sharply. "I don't want to hear it." He said, his voice still sharp but J'onn was fairly certain he wasn't going to attack again. Before J'onn's eyes, the man morphed, shrinking and contorting into that of a actual raven, complete with the pitch black wings Shiki had had before. He took to flight, in the direction of a small group of trees down the hill, as fast as his massive wings would take him.

"Don't." She said to J'onn, reaching up and placing her hand on J'onn's chest as he had moved to follow in flight. "Give him some time. Let him be pissed at me for now. You'll get your chance later, when he realizes you're the one that threw me. Hence thwarting his perfectly conceived plan." She smiled up at him briefly, once more she was mocking. Though this time it was Shiki whom was in her cross hairs.

"What happened?" J'onn asked ignoring her colorful assessment of Shiki's decision. There were more pressing matters.

Joey waved him forward as she started marching down the hill that led to a small farmhouse. "We were attacked by Lex's mutants - abominations, as it were. Must be nice to have more money than God." She said bitterly, in a dismissive backhanded comment, before she shrugged. "He's been trying to wipe out anything that has abilities he can't control with a vengeance. That includes Ash, me and Murphy - you too now no doubt. I'm not much for following Lex's orders. Shiki's mate, that blonde man - his name is Daichi, he's been captured now for nearly three months. He's one of the subjects that Lex is trying to use to help genetically engineer super soldiers. He can't just create these things out of thin air - he has to start somewhere. See, they're what we call visiugo. I take it you don't have them back on your home - or maybe you just don't know about them. They're part animal part human, but naturally. Nature evolved them to be that way, to entrust onto them the power of nature. They've been around for hundreds of years, living mostly in secret, worshiping nature - things like that. Don't want to be bothered by humanity, and so on. Most of them are dead now because Lex captured them and started trying to blend their make up to create hybrids. War makes money and Lex wants all there is. If he can succeed in creating genetically altered, absolutely obedient, but sentient enough to reason deductively, soldiers - he'll win more then the government's already raving approval. He'll win world domination. Never mind the fact that he's killing dozens of people in the process and decimating families like Shiki and Daichi. Single handedly destroying truth, justice and the American way - that crafty Lex Luthor. Hope died a long time ago." She dipped her head down and J'onn watched her shadow slink next to his as he hadn't moved to look at her.

"We're lucky that's all he did. Shiki I mean," she glanced up at J'onn. "It's a wonder he hasn't gone to join in just to be closer to the man he loves. It's getting tougher to make him believed we'll get Daichi back. Payton, he's our only in. He's delicately playing the balance. The masquerade is going to have to end soon. Lex will figure it out and we'll just never see him again. That would be very bad." She didn't hold back her concern. "Love is what would ruin that too. Ash would melt down, those brothers are all they have left, and then we'd lose Shiki for sure. It's all so freaking delicate. I'm not so much the cautious sort, but damn it! I've had to be because of this insanity. We almost died back there - did you see?" She asked in a snarky snap.

"Love is precious." J'onn didn't turn to look at her but he spoke to her, with honesty from his heart. He was considering all the information she was offering him, filing it away for later use as he tried to understand this world and their trials. "Have you never been in love, Joey?"

She snorted and went on in her indiscernible monotone, the one she used when J'onn couldn't tell if she was teasing, mocking or simply bitter. "Once, in seventh grade. It didn't end well."

J'onn dipped his head down. He was slightly amused, aware now of her sort of dark humor. He could tell, just then, that she was being funny. "When you do, you will understand it's value and appreciate that which your friend is feeling. You will better identify with Shiki and the others. You will understand what drives them most to end this war you are fighting."

"And I suppose you do."

J'onn paused and Joey made the same 'o' with her mouth that she did when he'd said he was part of the Justice League. There was a moment of silence that passed over them both. "It was a very long time ago." He said, finally letting his eyes trail over to her and she drew one shoulder up in a half shrug.

"Well I guess that means you won't do anything dumb that might put us all in jeopardy." She offered, wrinkling her nose, and attempted to suggest something useful from his loss. She cleared her throat uncomfortably though and he could tell she didn't want to ask further, but she sort of perked for a second. "I'll be sure to let you know if I ever experience this life changing, what was the word you used? Oh yeah! Precious. This precious thing. In the meantime, I'm happy to keep my senses and not do dumb stuff. Here we are." There was relief in her voice. She pushed the door of the farmhouse open without knocking.

The others were inside, it was a secondary source - a hideaway as it were. "Did you miss us?" Joey grinned, her sliced up arms and legs were crusted with scabs and she had a mean looking bruise forming under her eye; her friends were not in any better shape. Payton was leaning over Ash, dabbing an ointment on his brother's forehead. Murphy was picking at glass stuck in his elbow. J'onn was the only one of them untouched, his green skin perfectly smooth and solid. "You guys look like hell." She said gruffly but amused.

"Any landing you can walk away from right?" Murphy said in a cheerful voice.

"Indeed." J'onn agreed giving Joey a little friendly push inside as she seemed to hang in the doorway.

"Don't humor him, J'onn. He doesn't need the help." She told the Martian pointedly before squinting at her friend. "I don't think that's what they meant when they said that, Murph." Though she had a good idea that he had seen her almost plummet to her death and was barely caught by J'onn.


	5. Chapter 5

**Dream a Good One Tonight  
**Chapter 5

"I am to understand that Luthor is corrupting nature by twisting these people, these visiugo, together genetically?" J'onn asked and Payton nodded. They had all been patched up and were resting as Ash put together something for them to eat. Shiki, however, hadn't returned yet. J'onn wondered for a moment, out of the creatures he had seen, what they had been first-a cat or a bird or a bear. Or, perhaps, if they were so far removed from their original animal form that there was no sure way to tell.

"Yes, that's exactly what he's doing. By any means necessary, he is combining nature against her will, thus defying what she stands for in the first place. They are her children and he is destroying them to create soldiers he can sell. It's an insult to what and who they are." Payton pushed his glasses up more firmly on his nose.

"And you're assisting him in this?" J'onn asked. Though he wasn't entirely skeptical and he certainly wasn't accusatory of Payton, it was clear that the man took it that way as he visibly deflated in his spot, cheeks flushed in embarrassment and shame. J'onn, however, made no attempt to retract what he'd said and instead watched on thoughtfully as Payton clearly wrestled with what he wanted to say.

"When I started, he wasn't doing what he is now. It was purely for scientific purposes. I went for the research and the fascination in understanding the visiugo species. I thought...I thought it would help from a medical stand point. We're so closely related, man and visiugo, maybe we could learn from their make-up and vice versa. Perhaps help us to make better medicine or just learn something about the world. I never expected my research to evolve into this; a way to harness that DNA and alter its pathways. It's a mockery of everything I've done, everything I've lived for." Clearly Payton's passion existed not just in his science but in protecting it's integrity as well. That was something J'onn could easily understand as there was nothing he took more pride in than his work - his promise - for those that relied on him for help.

"That's why we're doing what we're doing; he must be stopped. But its hard when he has what he does and we have so little now, he's taken so many prisoner. If he succeeds we'll all be wiped out by what he will create, animal and man alike." Murphy's normally smiling face was somber as he picked at the edge of the gauze wrapped around his wrist.

"And there are hundreds of these visiugo, half animal and half human beings?" J'onn asked.

"Yes...well no, not anymore." Payton answered. "There were. Most of them lived as animals with their animal brethren in packs or flocks or pods...whatever their animal counterpart was. Others chose to live among humanity. They can appear entirely human or entirely animal, or both, as they see fit. Its partly the metamorphosis that Luthor's interested in. Those ones that attacked in the headquarters were first string attempts; a rough sketch, if you will, of what's to come. He wants ones that can be all of those things simultaneous without looking like they are unless they chose to do so. They aren't nearly as versatile when they can't control how they shift. But if they have the ability of a bear through strength, but can fly like a bird when they need to and slither like a snake - then the possibilities are endless and that's what Luthor is counting on. He can't change humans into these things, he needs a visiugo base and then he can blend their genes from there."

J'onn bowed his head again in thought. "Daichi then is in danger of this? Of becoming one of those mutants? That is what worries Shiki the most? All of those creatures we saw, they were once just one animal base."

"Bingo." Joey added from where she was draped unconventionally over a chair. "Right now he's keeping them all under tight lock and key though. When they come out, the strong ones - like Daichi - they're mind controlled. The unaltered ones at least - the ones he is saving for when its perfected. The weak ones are the prototypes, though 'weak' is relative. Lucky us."

"It's only a matter of time that he starts running out of weaker visiugo." Payton added. "Then he'll start using the ones he's harboring as sources. Ideal candidates to pass on the genetics. I've been doing my best to keep his advances at a stand still, but I can only do so much before it is noticeable. Daichi is strong and can fly. There's a bear visiugo we have called Ro who is an ideal candidate for his species and wolf by the name of Randi, she's our only female. I have stalled as long as I can. That's why we needed help. We've run out of options."

"And we don't have a whole league of justice to step in on our behalf." Joey hoped up and went over to Murphy and smacked his hand where he was still fidgeting with the end of the gauze. "Must be nice with all those people ready to dish out help and stop villainy at every turn." This time, J'onn could tell, she wasn't being playful. She was bitter. It was worrisome to him as he didn't feel right when she reacted in such a way. Her hair still had bits of blood in it and she was, like the rest of them, barely getting by in the clothes on her back.

"I am here." He offered stoically, but honestly. "And I will help, fight with you, until the end - until Lex's efforts are demolished."

Joey's nostrils flared and she seemed to be grappling with the idea that he wanted to assist and her resentment for their situation. He didn't like the idea of being mistrusted by those he was trying to help; he did his best to be understood and accepted for what he could do, for his honesty, and the last thing he wanted was to be at odds with her when his intentions were pure. Humanity confused him often and right then, as she was projecting so many emotions, he was having trouble following their conducive paths. He was, however, intrigued by it as he wanted to see where her outward personality met her inward.

"Earlier, as we descended the hill to this cabin, you said that visiugo may not exist in my home. While that may be true, this was not my first home. I am originally from Mars, a place where visiugo are not in existence either. I understand the pain of losing one's life as they have come to know it. To lose everything that is ever known. If I can help you protect yours, I will. I will help prevent you from the same devastation." He told Joey directly but she still seemed skeptical, her eyes darted away from him.

"Whatever." She mumbled before jerking to her feet and stalking off. J'onn had turned where she went but didn't follow. He could see more to it than her skepticism - he just wasn't sure what role he played in all of it.

"She mistrusts me." He stated and queried in the same sentiment, closing his eyes and fully bowing his head.

"Don't take it personal." Murphy grinned going back to picking at his bandage now that she was gone. "She mistrusts everyone. It sorta happens when you've been through what we have. It's tough to trust. But hey, I'm glad you're here and I think you can help save us." Murphy put his absolute trust in J'onn and J'onn wondered if it wasn't misplaced. However, he also had heard in Joey's mind that she too had hope in him, even if she didn't say it outwardly. He considered that maybe her friends didn't understand that her thoughts conflicted with what she said. Which was even more curious to him as he saw her conflicting facets. "She went to get you, J'onn. She was the only one that could physically breech the separation of our worlds. I made the link - she manipulated it." Murphy tapped his temple. "Turns out I'm pretty good with minds too. We're magic, Joey and me. Ash...not quite, he's something else entirely. He went through a rough science experiment. He's a walking billboard for why lab safety is key. One of his experiments went awry and he managed surviving the electrical surge his body got only because Payton," Murphy paused to clap the doctor on his shoulder, "was there to drain him of blood. Nasty huh?" Murphy grinned. J'onn couldn't help but feel a bubble of amusement fill him - just for how Murphy made light of the situation, somewhat reminiscent of his friend the Flash - though it never showed on his face.

"The blood was a conduit of the electrical charge. I needed to replace it with a lubricant that wasn't capable of sustaining a charge. Or Ash would have been electrocuted to death. So he doesn't really have blood; not like the rest of us. As a result...well, he's overcharged most of the time." Payton explained quietly. J'onn understood the theory; it certainly explained the sparks and the way Ash had traveled.

"Ash is like a human machine." Murphy chuckled. "Once in awhile you have to change the oil eh Payton?" Murphy squeezed Payton's shoulder and gave him a little shake before dropping back into his seat. "Joey and me though, we're just magic in a pretty simple form. Turns out our spirits came from a place that physical bodies can't access; almost imaginary for its elusiveness. The collective subconscious place that all of our dreams live. We call it the Dreaming. Pretty clever, yeah? Its a place where you can do anything; its why, in our dreams, we can fly or breathe fire or read minds. The possibilities are endless. When we were conceived, our spirits decided it would be fun to leave that strange place and come here. And why not? Whatever we can think up, we can do - so long as you can imagine it, its possible. So we bonded with the human bodies growing in our mothers. I guess we're kinda like visiugo in that we're part human and part something else entirely. My magic is in my head. I linked up to you because you're a telepath. Joey, I'm sure you've deduced, can manipulate shadows in various ways. She let her spirit pass through the Dreaming to come get you and lead you back here. She couldn't take a real form over there though, lest she get stuck there, but she needed to draw you to the darker shadows, the more solid ones as her magic is stronger there, so she could bring you through the Dreaming too. You probably saw her shadow on the ground. Don't sit still for too long though, she can see the intent of your soul through the actions of your shadow." Murphy nodded sagely and J'onn tipped his head to look fully at Murphy.

"I have nothing to hide." J'onn explained he said honestly, though he wondered for a moment what would be seen in the large shadow he cast. It certainly accounted for Joey's eyes trained on the ground so frequently. "It seems like her gifts would only be a threat to those with something secret."

Murphy's face turned a little pink and he scratched at the back of his neck shyly. "I guess."

"Food's ready." Ash appeared from somewhere in the depths of the cabin. "As meager as it is - it will have to do. Where's Joey?" Silence filled the room and Ash seemed to understand.

"I will fetch her." J'onn rose gracefully and, just as gracefully followed in the direction Joey had left to. He knew where she was by way of his telepathy, not that she had gone far. Night had come and the land was cast in darkness. The moon was the only bit of light, it was washing the hill in white illumination. It looked beautiful in its own way - somber to some, but J'onn found it peaceful as he approached Joey from the house. She was there, standing on the bottom boarder of the fence that separated the yard from the pasture. "This must be difficult for you." He said. She didn't turn to face him, but he watched her head drop forward. "Ash has finished preparing dinner."

She watched his shadow come up from behind her as it was nearing hers. He saw her head turn a little to watch them, at the angle they'd been cast from where they were situated in comparison to the moon's light source. All he saw was a stagnant figure on the ground, though he wondered what she observed instead. "You will not find anything that I have not already told you." He explained and she finally turned her head to actually look at him.

"Don't think you're so smart. That you get me because they told you what I can do. Your shadow has told me plenty." She pinched her lips together. J'onn pondered her in silence. She had pulled her arms closer to her sides.

"Indeed." He agreed quietly.

"It's against you right now. A shadow that never leaves its owner is just as telling as the ones that move all around. Besides..." _I saw your shadow on the ground, ready to catch me, when I was falling._"Never mind." She turned her face up to the moon. "It's not important."

"It is very important Joey." He urged her. "Trust is integral in the sort of life you lead, the way you put your life on the line for others. It is important to me as well, it means everything. In order to correct how corrupt your world is, you must trust someone. I know how it is to be alone in your fight, I do not wish it upon anyone. Most definitely not you."

She snorted and twisted around to look at him. Disgust lined her face. "I save myself and look out for me. I'm not like you, ready to just jump at the beck and call of anyone who needs it. Don't take that wrong." She said sharply. "I'm grateful an' all. In fact, I find it enviable to be that self-sacrificing. I'm just not that selfless and I know it; I care about me more than I care about anyone else. I hate you a little for being...well...like that." She gestured to him in general. "All noble and stuff. Doesn't it get exhausting? I mean, like I said, I appreciate you coming all the way over here - to a different world, from Mars even, but damn it, doesn't it seem a little scary? You haven't been scared once, not one time that I can tell, and that's sort of freakish. It must be a burden to be that brave all the time. And I just wonder when you're gonna break. You haven't even said anything about going home. Aren't you worried about it?"

J'onn hesitated, only because she had dumped so many things on him all at once. "I have thought of my home and my friends. I miss them." He agreed. "But I am needed here. I will worry about my return when the time comes. For now, it seems, I have a bigger agenda. Should my path lead me elsewhere I will follow it. I have learned that worry for that which may never be is cumbersome to the present."

"You're doing it again." She frowned.

"What is it that I'm doing?" He asked, truly curious.

"That annoyingly noble thing that can't possibly be for real."

"Why couldn't it?" He asked, his gentle bass voice stoically speaking in a flat monotone. "I have given you no reason to mistrust me. In fact, I suspect, you can see my intention in my shadow. It is why your eyes rarely leave the ground, you are watching everyone for their true intent. You see things there that protect you and your friends. Furthermore I have done nothing that you haven't also done. It appears to me that you have done everything you can to save your own world and all the people on it, regardless of your well being. You asked me to throw you through the air to help a friend when you knew you had no way to fly. These are also noble acts."

For a brief moment J'onn saw Joey's face soften, as if she was either flattered by his words or truly felt important. One corner of her mouth turned up slightly. "Yeah, but I knew you'd catch me. You said you wouldn't let me fall." She grinned a little wider. "So that was only half noble. Where did you learn to fly anyhow? Mars? Seems a little unfair. I don't know anyone that can fly. Ash...sort of. Are you..." she drew back to look at him. Even where she was standing on the bottom part of the fence, that lifted her up nearly a foot off the ground, J'onn was still taller than her, "...really from Mars?"

J'onn felt a meager smile tug at the corner of his own mouth. He offered the slim grin to her. "Yes."

"And here I thought it was just a colorful idiom, men being from Mars and all."

J'onn arched one of his brow ridges.

"Never mind." She chuckled to herself and shook her head, hopping off the fence back to the ground. She reached forward and took his hand. He glanced down where their hands were joined. He had not expected her to put her hand in his but he didn't draw back either. He wasn't alarmed by her attempt to bodily move him, just surprised by the sudden contact. "Come on, lets score some grub." But she paused, jerking him to a stop with her hand still in his. "J'onn, I think you should know if they didn't tell you already. I don't mean half the junk that falls out of my mouth. At least not as abrasively as it comes off."

J'onn nodded slightly. "I know." He, perhaps more than her friends, knew that her thoughts and words conflicted whether he meant to know that or not. He understood that her exterior shell was a protective covering, he knew others that possessed the same traits.

"Good. Just so we're clear. I'm not going to ask how you know, but I'll just take it for what it is." She gave his hand a little tug to press onward. Once they started moving again she pulled hers free from his. "Thanks. I don't know if I told you that yet but you should know I mean it. Not in one of those junk-falling-out-of-my-mouth things. Thank you for coming, for that annoyingly noble thing you do." She laughed a little and peered at the ground briefly to hide the width of her smile.

"You're welcome."

* * *

Author's Note :: Are the chapters too long? We have been discussing the trouble with this story and it's pit-falls. Unfortunately, we tend to get wordy and have trouble stopping when we get going. There will be a bit of romance in this particular story, we hope that it's acceptable and won't deter you from reading. Please, any words of encouragement or helpful criticism, are greatly appreciated and very welcomed. If anyone is reading this at all, we'd really love to hear what you have to say. Respectfully, Your Authors


	6. Chapter 6

**Dream a Good One Tonight  
**Chapter 6

"Stop." J'onn came to a sudden halt, the farm house was a good distance away from them still. There was a sharpness to his voice that hadn't been present before; a tone unfamiliar to J'onn himself as very rarely did he become startled as he was right then. When Joey turned back, his eyes were lightly glowing against the green of his skin.

"J'onn...what is it?" She asked, concerned as she furrowed her brow before looking back to the house. The lights flickered out in the square windows and then went out just as the house burst into wild flames. The explosion of heat from the fire was strong enough to radiate even as far away as they were. "ASH! MURPH!" She started to sprint forward in a panic, but something caught her ankle and she went sprawling to the ground instead. She twisted over swiftly, ready to attack whatever had caught her - sure it was a villain, but it was then that she realized it was J'onn, who was on his knees, that had grabbed her ankle. One hand was on his bald head, the other was still holding her ankle tightly. He appeared to be in pain as he coward for a moment in his spot.

"Too late." He murmured. J'onn, though not nearly as weakened and terrified of fire as he had been previously in his life, was still affected by it. Beyond that, his mind had reached out to connect with Ash just in time for the sparky man to be consumed by panic and fear. The flames had broken out, both in realty and in the link between J'onn and Ash, in that instant. The sensation scrambled J'onn's sense as fear, that he could normally contain, and Ash's thoughts exploded in his head - thus creating an intensity unlike anything he'd ever experienced.

"What do you mean 'too late'?" Joey's voice was shrill and her eyes popped wider than it seemed like her face should allow. J'onn felt her jerk her foot away, though he tried to grip tighter while his words couldn't quite make it from his brain to his lips. "Let me go! What the hell happened? Damn it, J'onn! What's going on!" He could still hear her, but didn't lift his head to see her.

"Luthor..." J'onn spoke, his deep voice vibrating around the inside of his head though he knew he'd actually spoken it as well. He was sure it had to do with Luthor. Something in Ash's mind, before it had all gone very south, had indicated that he was alarmed by something of Lex's present in the cabin. He tried to climb forward on his hands and knees, but he was weakened by the psychic burst in his mind and the fear that radiated around him. He felt suddenly very alone, certain that Joey had abandoned him for the flames and her friends. It was a terrible idea for her to go into the house, he knew that much but he couldn't muster the strength to call after her. Instead, he tried to inch closer to where the house was and where she'd gone.

However, he felt hands on his shoulders. He stiffened a little, all his muscles responding on reflex. "Come on big guy, we gotta get out of here then." _If you're the only one I can help stay alive, then so be it._"The landing might suck. Hold on." She warned him before giving him a hearty shove and it felt like he was falling off a cliff, though he knew there was only solid ground all around him. It even sounded momentarily like wind was whipping around him. But, just like when he'd initially arrived and when they'd escaped the main headquarters of these misfits, his stomach turned and he felt dizzy. Earth came up on him quickly and, as it seemed like he fell, he hit the ground in the same instance.

He felt Joey's hands under his armpits as she tugged him up to lean against a nearby wall, his height weighing heavily on her much smaller frame. "Come on...sit up." She managed getting him there, sitting but resting back against it, and then she dropped down next to him, leaning heavily against his side. "What the hell J'onn? You're supposed to be super." Once more he could tell, by the sound of her voice, that she was doing her best to joke. She was panicked though, that much he knew too. She was shaking next to him, as she tucked herself under his arm and pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly to herself.

"Thank you." He told her plainly. Just being separated from the pasture and the flaming farmhouse was enough to lessen the pain in J'onn's head. That which was causing the turmoil in his mind, the combination of so much fear and panic at once on top of his own horrors, was waning the longer he was disconnected.

"Don't mention it." She said breathlessly, panting as she was still trying to bring her racing heart down to a normal pitter-patter. _Oh God...they're gone...oh God...oh God...oh God..._

J'onn dipped his head down, his own senses coming back to him slowly. Her thoughts were wafting into his mind more readily and without his control to stop them from doing so. It was worse when he wasn't of sound mind himself. "Are you familiar with Bruce Wayne?" He asked, hoping to address her fear not with answers, but with actions.

"What?" She seemed to be snapped out of her own mind by the way her voice chirped her answer, her face suddenly looking up to J'onn. "My friends, my family, just died and you ask me if I know about Bruce Wayne! Are you serious? What sort of ridiculous question is that?" She huffed but made no move to lean away from him.

"I assure you, it is of utmost importance. It has everything to do with you and your friends, with all of this. Do you know of him?" J'onn asked again, pushing harder as he didn't let her anger affect him right then. He had the hope that where they might not know if Batman was alive, Joey might know more than she was even aware she did in regards to were the man could be found.

"Yeah, of course. Everybody does. He lives in Gotham and has a business there. Almost everything bought, stolen or traded is made by some subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. Apparently you know him too." Joey wasn't pleased, nor was she pleasant with her words. She snapped them in a defensive way, as if she was annoyed by the question all together. And, J'onn knew, she was.

"Joey," J'onn said looking over to her quickly, "they are not dead. I don't know them well enough to fully reach out to them and this place has a way of causing interference with my telepathy at long distances, but I can hear them still among the other echo of voices of those living on this world. They were no longer in the cabin before the explosion. Had we remained there any longer, we would have been discovered by whatever Luthor sent after your friends. For now, we must gain access to Bruce Wayne."

"How could he have possibly known where we were?"

"That is unimportant right now. Now we must -"

"Yeah! I heard you the first time! Bruce Wayne, I got it." She snapped, her eyes darting away from J'onn. She was clearly preoccupied. However, her eyes swept over J'onn's shadow, next to hers. It wasn't uncommon for her shadow to disgust her. She hated to so outwardly see what her innermost soul wanted. It was like a constant reminder that she couldn't ignore. It was why she often avoided looking at her own shadow. J'onn's, however, cast by the moonlight washing over the random alley that her connecting two shadows had brought them, one at the farm and the other in the city, was doing exactly as he was - sitting perfectly poised. She closed her eyes for a moment before taking a steadying, deep breath.

"He can help. I assure you. Perhaps you could take us to him." J'onn said.

"Oh yeah, right - because I often make it a habit of finding the edge of shadows in people's bedrooms. Come on J'onn! It's night, most of the world is in shadow right now. We could get lost, I can't always see where we'll end up. The shadows have to be more defined and it's best if I've been there before. Furthermore, it's sort of invasive just cruising up in someone's house." She seemed frazzled.

"We haven't much choice and very little time. Your friends could be in grave danger. Scheduling a meeting with him may take days, weeks even - if he'll see us at all. You must trust me." He urged her, as he had in the pasture not more than an hour ago.

"Fine." She bent to his suggestion easily enough, her tone dipping down as she yielded. "But don't say I didn't warn you and I expect you to be my meat shield when that rich man's body guards try to shoot me to death. And none of that phasing crap so I get hit even though you're in front of me. While we're at it, you can tell me what the hell happened back there that had you crumpling to the ground like a four-year-old-girl-with-a-skinned-knee." She smirked. _Please help me get them back. Don't let my friends die._

... ... ...

Joey's skepticism was becoming natural for J'onn. She had said at least three times that she hoped he knew what he was doing and he had patiently assured her that he did. That was even the case as she held his hand when they passed through the shadows on the ground and into Bruce Wayne's abode. The sick and dizzy feeling was starting to become customary to J'onn now that he was ready for it. He also noticed that she had to have contact with him when he first entered the shadow and when she was still holding onto him with clear and thoughtful intent, as he was prepared this time and so was she, that it was less alarming. It was as if he could feel her control over it and when it was a rockier instantaneous trip, as she bent the shadows edges to meet, was when she was frazzled or distracted.

It felt like a cool breeze passed over him, the way it felt to phase through a wall, when she stepped him through the end of one shadow in the heart of Metropolis to walk out the edge of another in Wayne manor.

"Have you ever gotten lost?" He asked her quietly. Curiously.

"Oh yeah, tons of times." She smirked. "You're lucky I'm more experienced now. I can do lots of things with them now, not just travel. Traveling's just the thing that I do the most. I don't really get in fights a lot. Contrary to popular belief I'm sure." He lifted a hand and Joey fell silent.

J'onn had heard something and he barely swung around in time as a fist nearly collided with the side of the Martian's head. J'onn had ducked a second attempt and managed catching the third but, as his opponent had two hands, J'onn felt a rather hearty blow to the gut which made him slam back into the nearest wall. The back of J'onn's bald head smacked into the hard surface. His narrow red eyes squinted a little as he was thrust into the white moonlight from an adjacent window when he was pushed back against the wall. It was then that the two shadowy figures saw one another. J'onn and Bruce locked gazes.

"J'onn?" Bruce's gruff voice was even more coarse than the alien was accustom to. He was no older than the Batman that J'onn knew, but stress lined his face and bits of silver speckled his hair. J'onn wasn't used to seeing him out of his suit and had only actually seen him as such a handful of times. He had no need to see him as the man under the mask and didn't care to worry with which was Batman and which was Bruce as they were the same to him. Both were J'onn's friend and if Batman was who he wanted to be known as then the Martian embraced that. "This is impossible, you're dead. I saw you die."

"As unlikely as it may appear, I assure you I am here. Let me explain." J'onn felt Bruce loosen his grip. It took him several seconds before he actually let J'onn go.

"So you two know each other." Joey stepped forward. J'onn watched her eyes sweep over the shadows on the ground, as vague and undefined as they were J'onn watched her mouth dropped slightly and her narrow eyes slim some. She made no outward indication of what she saw, but her eyes turned back up to J'onn, who was momentarily concerned about what she might have learned and how she would react. "I'm Joey. Real nice to meet you Mr. Wayne." She reached forward and took his hand shaking it big and showy. J'onn knew she was mocking him, it wasn't all that different from how he had met her.

"Friend of yours J'onn?" Bruce asked and the Martian nodded a single time.

"Indeed."

"So yeah, he's not the only thing you watched die huh?" She said to Bruce directly after rolling her eyes at J'onn. "Truth, justice and all that B.S. too. If he was part of your league of justice," she told J'onn, "I'd rather stick it out here. There's no justice to be had from a man who hides when things get rough and a little scary."

"I beg your pardon?" Bruce temporarily forgot J'onn and turned his attention to Joey.

"Why do you still pretend?" She scowled. Her head nodded to his shadow. "You still believe you're him, don't you? You're not, just because your head thinks your Batman doesn't mean you are. The world gave up on him just like he gave up on the world."

"I don't have to defend my choices to you." He told her shortly. "But you should know that I have been doing what I can from where I can. I see what's happening beyond these walls and I am doing my part to stop them."

"Right." Joey hissed in a mocking snarl. "This is unbelievable. You sit up here in your mansion on your hill and watch the world die around you! While you were doing your 'part', the people lost hope because they lost their only surviving thread of optimism. Sorry J'onn, you were never known here but he was. He was a hero. Hell I looked up to you! Had I known you were tucked away in some palace, probably being fed caviar straight from the fish, I wouldn't have wasted my time." Her eyes went down to the three shadows on the ground. Hers was crying, cowering and sobbing with her face in her hands. J'onn's shadow had moved between them and Bruce's, a perfect silhouette of Batman, was facing away from the two of them despite the fact that Bruce had brought his own face inches closer to her. He too was obviously furious with her accusations.

"Not all fights happen in the open." He told her sharply. "Lex must be stopped and I have the power to do that, from here." He gestured around himself, indicating the very house itself. "As I've said, I don't have to explain myself to you. But you should know that your quick jump to accuse only clouds your vision of the truth."

"No, I think you're the one who's lost sight of what's important. Hundreds of visiugo are in hiding if not dead, dozens of people with special gifts - powers - killed because they were too afraid to use them after what happened to Superman, the Flash and then you! So they were killed when they could have saved themselves. There were so few of us left willing to risk anything that there just wasn't enough of us left to fight. For all I know, I'm the last one because the others I was with burst into flames not more than an hour ago. Lex has been hunting us to extinction and half of them let him because they thought there was nothing stopping him from winning -"

"Joey." J'onn's voice cut in amid her verbal assault. "I asked you to trust me and you agreed. I'm asking for you to extend that trust just a little further." He turned to fully face her. J'onn didn't often invade other's personal space by touching them without being invited, even close friends, but he reached forward and placed a hand on either of her shoulders. "Please." It was the softest he spoke, with his deep voice, as his red eyes trained onto hers.

He felt her shoulders sink some, under his hands, but she didn't divert her eyes from him. "Fine." She folded her arms over her chest and hissed, in direct relation to his own words earlier that day, "Don't make me regret this."

* * *

Author's Note :: sorahart! Thank you so much, you are lovely. We very much appreciate your kind words of encouragement! We are glad to know that the chapters aren't cumbersome due to length. You really made Mandy's day with this review. She was about ready to give up and move back to a more private project. Because of your offering she has been inspired to continue so thank you very, very much! ^_^ We actually enjoyed this chapter and hope anyone who made it this far or stumbled on this by accident (or intentionally) enjoyed it. Please, if you have a moment, we'd love to hear what you think.


	7. Chapter 7

**Dream a Good One Tonight  
**Chapter 7

J'onn could feel waved of doubt pouring off Joey's subconscious. The hardest part bout being telepathic, as he was, was deciphering the actual thoughts from the knee jerk reactions. He made no claim to actually understanding the surly woman. However she heeded his request and kept her mouth shut, which was a remarkable feat in and of itself. They all ended up in one of Bruce's many rooms, this one - he assured them - was vacant and secure. He had voiced a concern about Joey knowing his identity but she had dismissively waved a hand and claimed there was no chance in hell she was going to 'tell on him' as it would associate her with a coward. Bruce's nostrils had flared and J'onn discretely managed to slip between them.

"It's been about twelve years now, at least." Bruce considered what he was saying thoughtfully. Truly thoughtful. "I wouldn't have been pushed to hide, as you eloquently put it, if there was some other way to stop what Lex has been doing. He's killed everyone - when I say everyone, I mean it. Superman went with a kryptonite blade Lex keeps on display in his office. That was the last straw." Bruce's eyes had strayed to J'onn's for a moment before he scoffed lightly and gestured for them to sit down. It was only once they had that he followed them into a seat of his own. "To stay in the spotlight only to become another dead on the ground was not the fate I was willing to pick. This isn't about strength any more - the person with thicker muscles isn't going to win this war. Clearly, or else it would have been over long before now. We're facing a shift in genetics unlike anything that's been done; literally creating soldiers made of the strongest and meanest creatures on Earth. The fact that every visiugo he has altered is actually connected to the earth, nature in some way, makes them even more dangerous in their strength. Because they aren't simply synthetically made…Lex, for all his villainy, is too smart to miss that detail.

"We can do all we can to get him to stop his research, to set all those mutated visiugo free…but rushing into the facilities like we are an activist group protesting animal testing won't do. It's a business-at its core, he is trying to make money and therefore all we can do is tackle him in his own arena. Which is what I've been doing." Bruce leaned forward on his chair, punching in a few numbers to the key pad that was nestled into the table. In an instant, the middle part folded inward on itself and from it came a round edged suit case. "Of all the genetic research and work Lex has put into this endeavor, there is one thing he relies on more than anything. It's not whether or not the new genes are compatible with the old, its not about the morphing and the physical appearance of these creatures. The cosmetics mean nothing in the grand scheme of it all. No…its that, no matter what he does, deep down, they are still themselves. You cannot change mankind, you can simply cover it with a mask and make it appear as something else. The shark beneath all the other animals he piles on top is still a shark underneath it all. What he must constantly do is force them into submission, to keep them from turning on him using the beefed up strength he's given them to destroy their 'creator'. And it has worked - so far."

J'onn watched Bruce with keen eyes as the man opened the suitcase. Inside, cushioned by a thick foam mold, were four vials of silvery liquid. He carefully picked one up, being sure not to touch too much of his skin to the glass. He twisted the vial and the silvery liquid beaded as it rolled in the depths of the glass housing. "It has taken me seven years to determine how to deactivate the component, the one that makes them obedient, once its been activated. I have isolated a hormone that's present in all animals, on that is common and primal. It initiates the natural flight or fight mindset which is what causes us, and them, to care for themselves therefore deactivating the suppressive mind control he has on him. It's base, native to all creatures and doesn't have to be a introduced as a new concept, like the submissive obedience that is - in no way - natural, that's a learned trait. I just had to find a way to remind them that they have free will.

"I only share this information with you, as I'm sure J'onn you remember my modesty in releasing confidential information to anyone_...anyone_," he paused and carefully replaced the vial into its snug foam housing, "because, even if you aren't really who you appear to be, and you return this information to Lex, you won't be able to stop it from occurring. In fact if you take this knowledge to a source that is working for Luthor, it will simply give him the opportunity to watch his empire fall. Beyond that, while he wasn't looking, I've been buying up shares of Lex Corp through various sources and subsidiaries." Bruce smiled, a dangerous thing indeed. "I own as much of his company as he does. Too consumed by his project and the anticipated outcome to realize. You can take that back to him too."

"Batman - Bruce," J'onn said patiently. "I truly am your friend. J'onn. I might have died here some years ago, as I trust your judgment and what you saw. I do not wish to know the details of how I came to such a demise; but I am J'onn from a separate Earth. A parallel one. You, the Batman I know, hypothesized about their existence. Surely you have to. I was brought here to help, by Joey and her companions - mounting a resistance against Luthor. It is mere chance that I'm here. I come not to stand in your way, but to assist in your cause. If you have determined a way to stop him then I am more than prepared to be by your side to see it to its end. Whatever it is that can be done, Joey and I are here to help." J'onn watched Bruce for a short moment and there was silence between the three of them, Joey looking on with curious eyes, before Bruce shook his head and closed the table top with another touch to the keypad. "That's unnecessary. I don't need more help - I have this handled." It wasn't shocking to J'onn to hear and he had no intention of arguing with Bruce as he knew it would be a losing battle.

"What? Are you kidding me? Are you too noble for it - to ask for help? You know what, its not even about asking for help, its about accepting it. Because here we are, with nothing but aid to give, and you deny it. Too good for that too I bet. For a coward, you're awfully sure of yourself." She frowned. "What the hell is wrong with you people? Were you planning this league of justice that stops villainy at all turns too? Is it some secret society now that has a hideout and fancy rings to get to be part of? Otherwise, common folk certainly can't be involved, regardless of whether or not its their world that is being destroyed. I'll have you know I've seen more of my friends die than perhaps you've cared to consider while you've been 'plotting' your plans for takeover. Great job on that - it doesn't change the fact that people are dying."

Bruce's eyes darkened as he narrowed his sights on her. J'onn could simply feel the air grow thick with the tension between the two and the last thing they needed right then was for either to snap at each others throats, verbally or physically. "I have no idea what you're talking about nor do I care; I can't change what has happened, all I can do is keep it from continuing. I want to stop Luthor as much as you clearly do, I have as much motive as you do as I have lost friends in this war too. And I intend to do so, with means and a plan that is actually going to work. What was your plan Joey?" He asked her sharply. The woman fell silent. "Bark at them from the street? Or were you going to walk right up to Luthor and tell him what you think of him and what he's doing? The way I see it, your methodology lacks in many aspects and very key elements. I've considered this for many years and worked to cover all possibilities. You seem to spend mere seconds developing your defense."

"You're arrogant enough to fail." Joey finally found her voice and told him curtly, but in a much softer manner as if he'd struck a chord in her somewhere deep down. "Why not suck it up and let us be your net. Fine, you can do it by yourself. Excellent. I'm not arguing that." She said harshly. "Keep on, keepin' on. But why not have a plan B? Have a little bit of humility and consider that, as you're not the first to try, you might not be the first to succeed either. Because that's a lot of lives, a lot of families, to put on the line for a little vial of liquid that could be as effective as a drop of water."

J'onn bowed his head. He knew that Batman was a man of mystery and one who often preferred independence. He was also wise and thorough if nothing else. "I know you well enough, even if your experiences here have been different, to know that little will change your mind or alter your plan. I respect that too, I find value in what you have researched and discovered. Perhaps we could provide you with additional information to assist, a way to administer this drug, perhaps. Payton, a friend of Joey's, works closely with Luthor's project; heads it in fact. From what I understand, it is his work that might be of most use to you." Bruce was stonily stoic, as if he wasn't at all effected by what J'onn was offering.

"I know of him. Go on." He said briskly.

"We could bring him to you and you could learn from him other useful facts about Luthor's research and the facilities. Together, we could develop a way into them to initiate this attack." J'onn was sitting straight in his seat, completely in control of his body and his mind. Joey's eyebrows came together and her mouth opened, but J'onn's voice entered her head before she could speak. _'Do not interrupt now, it does us no good. We must earn his trust and to do that, we must offer something that will aid him as much as it will us.'_Joey looked over to J'onn slowly, her head twisting in his direction and her nostrils flared - out of what seemed to be frustration and irritation.

"Yeah, we'll just...fetch him for you." She smiled in a discomforted, thin lipped grin. Bruce seemed not to notice though, or he didn't care to take note, as he gave J'onn a small nod of his head. "I will let you in personally - in an hour. That should be more than enough time to return. And like I said, J'onn...if you mean to betray me, feel free. There is no stopping this now." There was still a measure of mistrust that Bruce offered J'onn in his concealed threat, as it was exactly that. It was a warning and a challenge. One J'onn had no consideration of acting on as his intentions were pure, but Bruce could continue to question that and J'onn would continue to prove his loyality.

They were dismissed with Bruce's tentative approval, but only should they return with the golden egg that was Payton. J'onn had ushered Joey out quickly, a hand to the small of her back as if that would get her to go faster and not be distracted as they exited. Anything before she opened her mouth again and ruined the small measure of trust they were given. Once they were standing outside of Wayne manor, Joey stared at the gate for several long minutes before snapping around to J'onn. "Well that's special. You're impossible." She looked at him in sheer disbelief. "Are you out of your mind? You do realize that Payton, the man you promised to return to that elitist psychopath in order to destroy the other psychopath that has been terrorizing my world, is no where to be found right? How in the hell do you expect us to deliver the doctor when God knows where he even is?"

J'onn glanced down at her. "He is not a psychopath. He is a man pushed to the end of his limits, and even somewhat further beyond that. He carries the weight of the world on seemingly sturdy shoulders, just as he always has done. How he managed that burden is different than some; he is an admirable man for all that he has survived, both here and elsewhere. He will be a valuable ally, a friend even. I know where your friend is. I never would have promised something I could not deliver. Come...before our time is up."

* * *

Note: To our very kind readers, thank you so much for stopping by! We really enjoy writing this story, and we are excited to share it with you. When we say that you inspire us to continue, we mean that we are writing this story for our own enjoyment...but we are posting it with the hopes of letting our excitement bleed off onto others and share it too. We write on a daily basis; it is our way of escaping reality. We would continue writing this story without your encouragement; we merely would do it on our own terms, behind closed doors so to speak. It has taken a great deal of bravery to share it and we're glad to have others enjoy it. Thank you so much. With your support, however, we will continue to post this story and offer our writing for others to see. As we are encouraged to continue sharing due to your excitement and interest! Please, we hope you enjoy! Again, thank you so much for all your encouragement. It has truly been an inspiration to continue sharing. We slowed for two days, not because we were discouraged but because obstacles got in the way, with the weekend upon us we hope to finish it. V/R Mandy and Jackie


	8. Chapter 8

**Dream a Good One Tonight  
**Chapter 8

_"There are two things I am asking of you - the first of which shouldn't be too hard. As for the second, well…I am giving you every tool you could imagine to accomplish this task. I need your passion, all of your heart, to be poured into nothing but this research. I've been watching you, Dr. Lionel. I know the things you have written, the detailed articles on visiugo species. Move your expertise from mere animas and veterinary medicine to something unique, something only you will be a specialist in. I am impressed by your skill. You have quite a solid understanding of their breeds, and all I am looking for is to further understand their capabilities, their cultures…their existence. But its quite hard to gather all that information on your own, isn't it?" Lex had a pleasant smile on his face to match his pleasant tone - both of which were artificial, but used in a way to convince the young doctor across from him that he was genuine. In fact, every inflection of his tone existed for the mere purpose of persuasion...and Lex Luthor was _**_very _**_persuasive when he wanted to be._

_He was already a ruler in his mind. He had already defeated Superman and killed many of his friends. He had pushed the other freaks, as he considered them, into hiding. Like Batman. But he would snuff them out, in time, and destroy them too. The Martian had gone down, it wasn't easy, but if Lex could kill him in conjunction with America's best boy scout then he had no fear of the Bat. Speed hadn't stopped Wally West from digesting poison, Lex smiled, turns out no matter how fast his metabolism he was still made of flesh and bone, therefore susceptible to the same degeneration by way of hostile chemicals. Nothing could stand in his way, that was why Payton, the visiugo and everything else were Lex's play things._

_"It is, yes. I…it has been merely recreational so far. I only wrote one article about the connect to wolf visiugo and the myth of the werewolf. I have nothing that's concrete and nothing that's been proven by adequate testing." Payton responded in a soft voice, almost in disbelief for the meeting he was having with the tycoon._

_"Excellent! That is exactly what I wish to change - and trust me when I say, Dr. Lionel, I can change it._We _can change it. You want a lab? I can give you a lab - with all the beakers and burners and chemicals you desire. You want subjects to test? I can give you that too. How about the funds to conduct the research you have always wanted to delve into - your passion, as I said - as you agreed. The only thing I ask from you, in return, is to find out everything you can about these divine people." Lex paused as he watched Payton's reluctant expression turn doubtful. The scientist, from Lex's research, was brilliant but he lacked the necessary self assurance to do great things socially. That's why Lex needed him and why Lex could use him and manipulate him. "I want to know everything you do; lets become experts together, shall we?"_

_Lex knew how vulnerable a man Payton was - it was that way often with scientists, truly involved in their work for the results themselves. They would do anything to get what they wanted, regardless of the means they took to get there. He had picked Payton specifically for this reason; there were many other amateur researchers developing theories on the considerably unstudied visiugo, but none with the softness Payton Lionel had. None were as weak to the project as he would be and Lex was counting on that fact to push Payton to agreeing to something he didn't have all the details he desired. All because he gave him a place to work and an endless account of money to keep working. Lex didn't care how much money it took to accomplish what he was trying to do; as he figured it, the more money spent, the more investment he put into his own success and therefore every dime was very well spent._

_The visiugo became a point of interest to the people first. An outing of raven visiugo, who called themselves Corax, in Japan drew media attention as they took to the skies openly, tired of being repressed by humanity. They were more militant and hostile. To counter them a brave group of foxes, a small clan, opened up to better represent their kind._

_Payton had agreed readily and began research almost immediately on the genes he could take from visiugo directly. At first, it had started as a volunteer situation; they didn't steal visiugo, they offered them the chance to come in to help the cause of knowledge. Most were happy to do it simply because it was a warm place to sleep and a guarantee of food. The ones that had defected from their animal cousins, their flocks, pods, packs and clans and wanted to explore the human world - there other brethren. But they learned very quickly that it was a harsh existence of money and things, status over quality, rather than harmony and peace. Their beloved giver, Nature, was forgotten by humanity. Humans scarred her flesh with roads and buildings and decimated her beauty in favor of shopping malls and other monuments of consumerism or violence. It was a consistent theme Payton learned from his subjects. They wept, most of them, when they really began to understand humans. The militant Corax seemed to understand this and it was why they had lashed out, in their believed creator's defense. As the years went on, however, and Payton's researched grew in stacks upon stacks of data, Lex's demands got more and more specific._

_"Typically, it varies between species just as fur and eye color do. But there is a certain rule of thumb that I have found, through lore and actual study, to suggest that for every year a normal animal of that species will live, a visiugo of it will live another ten. Their life expectancy exists exponentially by ten. That is to say, if a regular seagull is meant to live for fifty years, we can expect its visiugo counterpart to last for five hundred. In theory of course, under ideal conditions and permitting that the visiugo themselves don't damage who they are as animals. Nature, she takes pride in her children as they are the only representatives of what she is about; therefore, if they are properly portraying her message, to treat the earth with kindness and love rather than to abuse it, they are granted the ability to live longer…their message is stronger in numbers. Proof, as it were, that they are granted certain privelages."_

_Lex was seated, years after he had first hired Payton for the job of a life time, behind his desk with his chair leaned back and a small little smile across his face. He had his fingers together, as if to humbly hide his smile, with his elbows resting on either arm of the chair. "This is very, very good news." He said in a sly voice. "They could, essentially, out live their human counterparts by a significant amount of time. And if they were combined? A gull and a bear, a cheetah and a snake…so would their longevity?" It wasn't about the money - at least not at first. Lex had always know there was a possibly to sell the creations he was making, or rather that his people were making, but that was a side project all its own. A way, perhaps, to get more support of his own while slowly gaining the control he could over the government he wished to one day entirely rule. But there was more to it - something Payton didn't know, something no one but Lex himself had mulled over. Long ago he heard of the myth of the tortoise visiugo who loved for more than a century. The details, the moral of the story, were lost on Lex as he focused on one detail. He wanted to know why, how and find the ability to harness the age element. And that was the possibly of not simply turning a visiugo into many different types - but turning an ordinary human into a visiugo for the sole purpose of creating the ultimate man; taking from each the desirable traits . Primarily, first and foremost, age. He didn't intend to cheat death - but he would certainly manipulate it if the opportunity arose._

_"Well, in theory….I suppose." Payton answered with a little nod of his head, glancing to his assistant beside him. She brightened in an instant, stepping forward with her brown hair bouncing a little bit. "We will look into it, Mr. Luthor. Payton, he is good at what he does…he will find out for you, I promise it. This is exciting, isn't it? Who knows what we could do with this discovery…the visiugo we could help, just by understanding them better."_

_Lex smiled a little wider at her, her naivety playing into his hands giving him the opportunity to further hoodwink her, nodding his head. "Remember, you can call me Lex, Amy. Please do, go back to your lab and play with your toys, tinker with genetics…do whatever you possibly can to get me results. We are doing good things here, very good things. People will thank us one day for this." And Lex believed his words - not for the way Payton and Amy took them, but instead for the fact that, to him, he was certain it would give him the advantage he needed to dominate. He could certainly do a much better job in a position of power, with his prowess and strength, than any of the iron-clad go getters that were there now. He could bring to the world a revaluation it had been begging for for a long while; it just couldn't be heard. But Lex, in his faux altruism, was there to be its voice. And he would do so, if he could, from the ripe age of five hundred should Payton be successful._

_Months were spent on researching exactly what Lex had asked - a blending of multiple visiugo in order to see if life could be maintained for longer but it was amid all the other things Lex wanted results on. To first see if it was possible, to bestow humans - ordinary ones - with multiple visiugo traits, they had to move to testing it. They were past theory at this point. "I don't feel comfortable with this." The soft spoken doctor told Amy, who merely smiled. There was a risk in pulling someone off the street to test on; the possibly of introducing diseases or genetic mutations as well as the mere fact that most were not willing to let their genes be tested on in such an evasive manner. Test tube results had been promising but it was time to move on, Lex insisted. Amy had offered and Lex would agree to anything that would yield results. Therefore she was the one laying on the table in a white hospital gown, Payton and Lex dressed in garnishment to protect Amy from them in the pseudo surgery._

_"It will be okay…I trust you. You're a genius Payton. Make me something nice - a butterfly and a cat maybe. Something kind." Amy told him sweetly, leaning up just enough to kiss his cheek through the cloth mask that covered his face. "I love you and you better still love me once this is all over." She told him playfully, enough to make Payton's eyes crinkle around the edges in his own smile before he gave her a little nod. "I will - I do. I love you." It was the last thing he had said, looking to Lex briefly, before he picked up the first syringe and injected her with a blue liquid filled inside. It took multiple sticks into her veins and even into the tissues of her muscles across her body as the new genetic material was introduced. The lull that passed was quiet enough to hear their hearts beating quickly as Lex stared, with keen and hopeful eyes, at where Amy lay awhile, unmoving._

_But when it happened, it happened so fast and so suddenly that there was no stopping it. Her body started to contort and convulse, the bone of her heel hitting the table hard as she trashed in her own skin. Parts of her body started to transform; there was an arm that was covered in fur and her fingers each had shortened and grew wider to resemble a paw. But her other arm grew scales across it, shiny green and blue and her fingers had fused together to create a flipper instead of her hand. There was cracking and horrible popping sounds as her body tried to compensate for the sudden change. It was as if a small child had gone forward and stuck random parts of animals on her as her nose lengthened and a pink end formed while her legs mirrored her arms in their vast contrast. The popping and snapping of bone as they realigned was deafening; horrifying. Payton stood there for a split second, his eyes wide and his breath caught in his throat while Lex took a small step back._

_When it ended, and Amy was lying still on the table, contorted and broken, Lex leaned over to see her more closely. She wasn't making a noise or moving; in fact, there was question as to whether or not she was even breathing for how loud all the breaking was. He could see, though the surface of her gown, her ribs poking through her skin as her chest grew bigger and more robust to match the part of her that had paws. "Amy…!" Payton hissed, finally regaining his thought pattern as he rushed forward and tried to wake her from the unconsciousness that had fallen around her. But when she didn't respond, not even after she was unrecognizable underneath all the transformation, he began to scramble to find something -_**_anything_**_- that would revive her and reverse what he had done to mutate her genetically. Trays of tools were knocked over and drawers pulled nearly off their track as Payton dug through supplies, panic clearly having captured him._

_"At least we know it is possible…but I think it might need some work." Lex told him. There was only a tiny hint of approval by what Payton had 'discovered' and it was for the simple fact that it had meant it was possible to alter the genes in a way that would combine multiple types - or just one if Lex wanted it. It was a step forward that was undeniable and he felt that much closer to his success. "She would be proud to die for the sake of science, I am sure. But perhaps next time, we could keep this little side-effect from happening. What do you say?"Payton hadn't heard Lex fully, his hands had stopped moving and now were just holding her one, the left, where her ring finger - or what had been a ring finger - was mutilated from the engagement ring she'd been wearing which, in the transformation, turned out to be many sizes too small and nearly severed it clean off_.

"Payton!"

His eyes snapped open and two faces swam into his view-J'onn's first, whose eyes were glowing and he was watching Payton closely in a way that seemed like he was reading his soul as the stoic man didn't budge. And then Joey, who had shook his shoulder roughly and been the voice he heard that woke him from the terrible nightmare he had been having, a reoccurring nightmare of the past. Of his mistakes. He didn't quite consider it a nightmare as much as a plaguing trip down memory lane that he'd much rather skip. The only thing that ran louder in his head was that of Lex's words 'I want the risks-what do we have to lose' in their last meeting and how Payton had shamefully agreed.

J'onn watched Payton as the quiet man blinked sleep from his eyes and sat up, wiping his mouth as he did so. Every deep breath he took, quick and clearly distressed, was not lost on J'onn. Nor was Payton's dream; he hadn't seen what had happened, but he heard what Payton had thought during it - the panic, the screaming, the begging for his love not to be dead. It was all there for J'onn to witness and he was pained by what he heard. It was but one more reason for him to readily help on their behalf - for Payton, for Shiki, for all those who were suffering because of what Lex wanted and the lengths he was willing to take to get it.

"How did you know where to find us...?" Payton asked quietly, wheezing a little as he did so. Clearly he thought there was more than just him in this room, but he had not fully woken to find that he was alone; save J'onn and Joey. His hair was singed and he had been very obviously mistreated. Joey looped his arm over her shoulder and J'onn took his other arm. Payton was tilted between the two for how short Joey was and how tall J'onn, but it was a welcomed relief.

"Your friend, Murphy. He reached out to me briefly. He too has gifts of the mind and was able to find me." J'onn informed Payton.

"It was Shiki. He's theirs now." Payton gulped. "He told them where we were."

"I know." J'onn's deep bass echoed back and Joey's mouth fell open. J'onn reached around and touched her lower back from behind where they were holding the doctor up, as he suspected her to lash out and perhaps drop Payton. The last thing they needed was to be loud, particularly for Joey to voice her irritation and frustration. J'onn wasn't sure if she was more frustrated with him not telling her what he already knew or with Shiki for being responsible for this. "Do not underestimate love Joey, and do not underestimate Shiki. He is at peace now with Daichi as he always wanted. It wasn't meant to hurt any of you. You suspected this would happen. You spoke of it to me. Now is not the time to let it consume you."

Joey looked up to J'onn and he watched her grappled, very clearly by the expressions on her face, with his words. She knew he was right but she wanted to fight him on some of the concepts. There was more to it, J'onn knew that Shiki was in danger, that Lex would only give the two lovers to one another for long enough to hold up his end of the bargain before keeping them both for his own menacing plans. "A warning would have been nice." She snapped but her voice turned to worry as she heard Payton give a soft moan. "Payton?" Her voice peaked as she squealed lightly in her fear of his wellbeing. He waved a hand and nodded, indicating he was alright. "For Christ sakes!" She hissed. "I'm not made for this hero bullshit. If you ever make me put myself on the line for you again I'll throttle you myself." She warned him.

"Ash." He whispered. "We need to get Ash before we leave. And Murphy. Shiki and Daichi...if we can."

Joey leaned around to look at J'onn as she bit into her tongue but still mumbled something about traitors, though made no outward argument to obtaining them too. "Certainly." J'onn told Payton as it was clearly his intention from the beginning. However an arch of lightening shot free from seemingly nowhere, turning the dark room purple and smacking Joey square in the chest. She crumpled to the ground and Payton sank, on weak knees, next to her, giving J'onn's arm around Payton a tug in their direction.

"You know what happens when you betray me Dr. Lionel?" Lex's voice was distant, forced through a speaker as he was addressing them from another location. "Yes, that's right. Killed, by the very last people that matter to you. I only wished I could have had a complete set." There was a soft raise in Lex's voice. "Too bad Josephine, I would have liked to watch you help destroy your cause. Your effort was admirable, even bringing in reinforcements. I remember you J'onn - and it will be my pleasure to kill you again." Joey was panting from the ground and J'onn had to pull his eyes away from she and Payton to look up to where Ash was hovering above on a cloud of purple blots of lighting and sparks showering off, Murphy was leaning against a nearby wall and the two mated visiugo were flapping their wings, hand in hand, near to Ash. "Destroy them." Lex ordered firmly.

* * *

Author's Note :: I think it's time to add the second part of this story's title just for fun reference. _Dream a Good One Tonight...I'll listen to the bad one's when they come..._ It is part of an Alkaline Trio song titled 'One Hundred Stories'. ((We do not own the title, the band or the lyrics. Disclaimer inserted.)) As this story was meant to be primarily composed of the dream world it seemed apropos. Much of the original incarnation of this story has changed after we revised and revised and revised what would occur. To be clear this is NOT a dream, the story evolved in our preliminary construction of it - as we brainstormed. For some reason the title never changed though it, perhaps, should have. Even so, it seems that the lyric now fits in many ways as J'onn has heard the bad one - when it came. With all that said, we do hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it was clear and concise in purpose and history. As always, thank you for reading. We'd really love to hear what you think.


	9. Chapter 9

**Dream a Good One Tonight  
**Chapter 9

"Oh God." Joey breathed after Lex's order reverberated off the walls. J'onn internally concurred with her brand of exasperated exclamation; however, he didn't linger on the idea that they might not win. There was too much to be done to spend it worrying about the negative possibilities. He would much rather concern himself with defense as it would take all of his attention should he hope to be successful. He needed Joey to focus too; they were already greatly outnumbered. Should she falter in the least bit, as these were her friends and therefore her weakness, they would surely fail.

"J'onn." Payton grabbed the Martian's arm. "Don't hurt them. Under that control, they're still the people we know. Its a mask - they are still awake underneath. Please, don't hurt them." J'onn could hear the vibration off Payton's mind that he had warned J'onn only because he suspected that Joey already knew that. There was fear in his voice as well; J'onn could sympathize too as he was pained by the violent position these otherwise docile human beings were placed in. None of them, Murphy or Ash or even the bird couple, were murderous people and it was through the manipulation of a single man that they were forced to be. It was all the more reason to release them.

"Don't make it easy or anything." Joey remarked in a mocking, snide comment directed at Payton. In contrast, J'onn could hear her mentally preparing herself for a fight to save her friends - her family. Her eyes went first to Shiki and Daichi, which left J'onn facing Ash and Murphy as Payton stood to help them both. His abilities were not in defense, but in healing and therefore he had less to offer them in their fight. Neither Ash nor Murphy looked like themselves, not the men that J'onn knew at least. Ash's already twitchy body was consumed in crackling electricity that made him snap and pop as it jumped around him in a web of purple moving bolts with chaotic rhythm. Murphy merely had a dark look across his face, his eyes sunken and his cheeks looked hallow as a shadowed, menacing smirk widened across his lips. J'onn wasted no time, hopping off the ground to fly up toward Ash who was hovering already in the air. He glanced back, briefly, at Joey before his attention turned fully to the charged Lionel.

She was standing firmly in her spot as the blond haired, black winged visiugo called Daichi dove for her. He was going at a very rapid pace - literally picking up speed as he flew toward her. J'onn paused. He saw her shadow, behind her at her feet, bleed out into a round blob on the ground below. "COME GET ME!" She taunted and Daichi obliged, further gathering speed. Her shadow then detached from her feet as she ducked, inches before Daichi would have barreled into her. Instead, he - despite trying to stop himself - went head first into the black void, only to exit a shadow on the wall next to Shiki. It was as if she connected the two dark blobs, front to back. His momentum was still headed forward at full force and he therefore smashed into Shiki, as Joey had intentionally connected the two darkened spots. It happened very quickly and J'onn heard Joey hoot from the ground below as the two men-birds tumbled to the ground in a mess of grey and black feathers. J'onn didn't have time to watch further as he knew he had problems of his own, though the two visiugo were getting back up as he turned around.

He barely had time to twist his body to the side as a bolt of purple electricity zipped passed him, crackling in the air as it cut through bubbles of oxygen. He didn't hesitate, shooting himself forward with all of his force to attack Ash head-on. He had intended on knocking Ash off from his electrical cloud. He smashed into Ash's chest with the force of his shoulder. But their skin didn't come in contact as Ash's electrical webbing kept a bubble around him, nearly a half an inch all around, as if a shield for his entire body. As a result, J'onn felt the zap of electricity surge through him like he was a lightening rod in a rather rough storm. It rattled his teeth and made his blood tingle with the charge, but he had managed at least pushing Ash from where he was hovering. The spiky haired man scrambled as he fell the dozen or so feet to the ground.

J'onn glanced down, planning his next move to detain Ash, when he felt something grip him suddenly. He had the strangest bout of irrational fear settle first in his chest before exploding outward to the rest of his extremities, consuming him like a flame. It was as if he was thrown in the midst of a fire, of his mind and all around him - only there were no actual flames to be seen. The panic that filled him was of the same magnitude he remembered feeling the first time he'd experienced fire. He shook in his skin and, amid the terror, didn't realize he'd lost his control of himself and plummeted from where he was hovering.

Somehow, amid his fall, he heard Joey shout...something, but his mind was still caught up in the gripping and paralyzing fear. It was unlike anything he'd felt before. He could hear his heart hammering against his chest and feel his blood racing through his body for the sheer amount of panic that enveloped him. He never hit the ground though, not that he knew he was falling to begin with. It came rapidly to meet him and the only thing that kept him from smashing into the concrete floor, as he wasn't in the right might to even transform his body to land safely, was a thick black shadow - courtesy of the mouthy woman - that appeared below him and cushioned his fall. "J'onn!" He finally heard Joey, though it was like she was speaking through a filter of water or thick glass. He felt her hands on his shoulders and he flailed, flinging her back so she smacked into a nearby wall. "NO!" He boomed. "It's too dangerous...it will get you too." He told her frantically as he literally saw red, certain there must be fire raging around him for how horrified he felt and how nothing could make him feel so helpless.

"DAMN IT, J'ONN!" Joey howled back as she shook her head, the throbbing lump on the back of her skull was already present and it would only grow. "It's Murph! Its not freaking real! He's messing with your mind, its what he does! He's playing with your emotions. Whatever it is, its not real!" Joey suddenly chirped in surprise as Ash caught her from behind around the neck, holding her in a choking grip.

"Stop now." Ash hissed at her as he zapped her, sparks flying from his finger tips and running across her skin. He pulled tighter against her neck, squeezing hard to cut out any oxygen she could possibly get. J'onn was oblivious to it though, his attention fully on the fact that he was still plagued by his fear. She heard a smash against something hard and she was suddenly released, Ash's hands jerked away from her neck. Joey dropped to her hands and knees coughing but, from the shadows on the ground, she saw that Payton had come up behind Ash and smacked him in the head with a heavy steel rod. "Go." He urged her quickly, but she could hear the worry and panic in his voice for what he had had to do to stop his brother from killing her. Ash was all he had left.

Joey nodded as she darted forward not content with letting Payton suffer another devastating loss.. Her eyes scanned the room quickly. Murphy, she knew, was smart and he was likely out of sight so he could have a better hold on J'onn without being interrupted; controlling his emotions from afar. She couldn't risk going up against J'onn again as his strength was enough to crush her, particularly in his uncontrollable fear. Her eyes moved back to his massive shadow. Instead of matching his body, which was hunched over and clutching his head in pain, his shadow was flailing about in panic, flames consuming every part of him. Joey glanced back at Payton, she offered him a swift, weak smile. She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and touched her index and middle finger to either side of her head at her temple. It would be difficult, but they needed J'onn if they were to have any hope of not abiding by Lex's demand to 'destroy them'. She had no interest in dying that day and she also had no plan of becoming a killer herself either. These people were her friends and she would do anything in her power not to hurt them or let them be hurt.

She focused and a second later Payton watched her body turn in on itself, as she seemed to vanish from existence. However, her shadow became twice it's gray-black color, and in that moment, Joey drew herself into the Shadowland. It would be draining and it was difficult to remain there, but it was the only way she could communicate with J'onn in any meaningful manner. She needed to get to his subconscious, the part that was being tortured. It was the only way she could save him as Murphy had such a strong hold on him in the contemporary plane of existence. "J'ONN!" She shouted. It was as if static surrounded her, there was no measure of serenity in this half existence. It was one where ghosts often remained, where children feared the Boogie Man and where people's unconsciousness lived. Nightmares were made in this place, through the darkness of shadows. It scared even Joey, but she had to focus, she didn't have much time before she would lose her own grip and slip out of this world, exhausted and fatigued. She sprinted forward, whipping past things of true nightmares, all the things that lived in the darkness whispering for her to follow them instead. She could, with the risk, lose herself here and never return if she heeded the evil that beckoned to her.

It was then that she saw him, as he wasn't far from her, even in this weird place. He was stumbling around, gray flames, as everything was in strange shades of gray - except Joey, licking his body as he wheeled around aimlessly in an effort to break free. She shook her head and gathered all her courage and strength. She ran forward and dove for him, smacking him clean in the chest with all of her force and body weight. It was luck that had him tumble to the ground with her; his lack of focus was to her advantage as he didn't fight her. He was amiss, off balance and unprepared. She caught his cape and swiftly used it to pat rapidly at the flames, dousing their oxygen source. Though it wasn't really happening, at least not in reality, and it was all in J'onn's mind, and therefore real enough to him that they appeared and acted as they would in the world beyond his mind. "J'onn! Hey!" She said, patting his face and pulling herself up off of him. She still had to shout over the buzzing background noise of everyone's fears and hopes, dreams and passion.

"Joey..." He mumbled, huffing in heavy breaths. His eyes were glassy with fear still and there was a dumbstruck look on his green face.

"That's me." She said in relief, thankful that he was somewhere in there and still coherent as well as aware, reaching out to help him up. "Look we don't have much time so the thanks can come later. But you have to listen to me. You're stronger than him, I know it. Your mind. You have to block him out, don't let his control take you over, consume you - he's going to keep trying, you have to fight what he's making you feel. Don't let him get in there again!" She said looking up to him almost helplessly. "We need you out there."

"How did he know my innermost fear?" J'onn asked, afraid in that moment that he wouldn't be able to stop it if Murphy used that again to his advantage.

"He didn't." Joey answered simply, as if it was obvious to everyone but J'onn. "You gave it to him. You filled in the blanks with what scared you in your own mind. He never needs to know what you feel, your brain takes care of that for him. He just started it; its what he does. He manipulates emotions. You were the one that let it consume you, that turned it into real fear. Don't do it again. Capish?" She was pleading, even if her words sounded like she was scolding. J'onn took in a shaky breath before he agreed silently with a nod of his head, doing his best to stand up straight again in an effort to be strong once more. He could feel, in his mind, the prickling sensation of what Murphy had done to him - what he was trying still to do. For a brief moment, a wave of anger flooded him next - he couldn't pin point why it happened, what caused such a feeling, but his body heated up in rage and he felt himself tense up, eyes set on Joey and his body ready to attack in retaliation to whatever had made him angry. His attention was honed in on Joey and opposite the strength he had, she was no match. J'onn knew this as his hands balled into fists.

"J'onn..." She said swiftly, softly though and with fear in her voice as he stared at her, his eyes heavy with his rage. "J'onn, you're scaring me. Come on...don't..." Joey whimpered a little bit. A part of J'onn was aware of the artificial nature of what was happening, simply because Joey had warned him of the possibilities. It was that part which was fighting against his instant rage. It was as if there were two animals battling inside of him, one of nobility and the innate desire to protect and defend, and the other with nothing but wild, uncontrollable rage that bled into violent disregard for those he hurt. He had never, in his life, craved killing someone, causing irreparable damage as he did right then. It was hard enough to push that away, to build up his own defenses telepathically, when Murphy's power to manipulate his emotional spectrum was so powerful over him. J'onn was a creature of emotion, constantly in search to understand those around him as he discovered and encountered emotions he had never had the chance to understand - and right then, he was feeling them with intensity he had never seen before either. Anger and hatred were new to him entirely and the way they consumed him was terrifying and refreshing all in the same instant as he had the desire to simply release all that rage; and he had the ability to do so, to be destructive without even trying. The part that scared him most was the amount of unconditional anger he felt towards one of the bravest woman he had met thus far. It was the sound of a shout-louder than anything he could hear in his own head-that snapped him out of his daze as Joey heard it too. It reminded him that he was not there to harm, but to help and that he had somehow let Murphy get in his head again and manipulate his emotions.

"JOEY! J'ONN!" It was Payton, J'onn could tell that much. He was forced to recognize those that needed help and, in that instant, managed to gain control of his mind - he seized the part that wanted to help, thus pushing aside that which wanted to fight. The panic to Payton's voice was enough for J'onn to physically push Joey to move. "Go!" He hissed to her as he blocked as much of Murphy's magic as he could from penetrating his mind further. Joey was not part of the this shadow world; he was, as his physical body still existed in the world above - the real one. She had to return and as she did, climbing up from her extra thick shadow like she was climbing from a hole in the ground, J'onn's eyes-where he was kneeling on the ground with his hands to his head still-snapped open, glowing the brightest they ever seemed to. He could feel Murphy still in him, and fear and anger bubbling in his chest, but he fought against it as he stood up and whipped around looking for Payton.

Joey appeared beside him a moment later, their shadows on the ground still though the world was in color again and J'onn could stand up straight, as he normally did. "You good?" Joey asked, though her eyes were sweeping around too, looking for Payton. There was a measure of worry in her voice, both for the doctor and for what state J'onn might be in.

"Yes." He said simply, though it sounded as if it was meant to convince them both. It worried him how easily Murphy had been able to manipulate him. The mere memory of feeling that strongly was enough to panic him internally. "I have control, for now." He told her and Joey's eyes shot up to him.

"Oh, that's refreshing." She curled her lip lightly in her snide retort. "Next time, turn that scary on someone else okay? I really don't want to be the one on the end of that stare again. For now, lets get him and get out of here. Just...lets get out of here." She said swiftly. "I don't much care for dying right now. If you get Payton first, get him the hell out of here, don't wait for me." She gave J'onn a little push in the other direction as she swung around. J'onn hesitated for a brief second, looking to argue with her words but she had hissed at him to '_just go!_'.

Payton was being held by Daichi high up in the air, squeezed tightly around his neck. No matter how much Payton tried to squirm free, Daichi held tighter and his movements were starting to get tired as oxygen was cut off from the rest of his body. "PAYTON!" Joey screamed, terrified by how close to dead he already looked, his skin pasty and colorless. She whipped around, flailing as she tried to think of something to do; but in her panic, nothing was coming to mind. As she swung back, she saw that J'onn had easily lifted himself into the air.

She took a small step back. Her eyes closed lightly and briefly, trying to regain her composure as she felt useless in her frenzied panic. When she blinked them open, J'onn had picked up speed and in an instant, he swept straight through Daichi, taking Payton with him. The scientist was now cradled in J'onn's arms, having passed out at one point as his thin frame was limp in J'onn's over sized arms. _"I'm not leaving you."_ His voice drifted into her mind, firm and honest. She snapped her head fully up to where he was flying near the ceiling. _"Don't be a fool! Get him out of here. Now's the time, its the only chance. I'll meet you there. NOW FLY!"_ She barked in her inner most mind's eye, her frustration bleeding through even in her mind. J'onn felt a pang of guilt; he knew she was right, staying was not an option but leaving her - not seeing her out entirely - seemed unfair for how she had come to his aid when Murphy had him held. Beyond that, he simply couldn't leave her - he had never had such a sense of connection to another if only for the simple fact to learning more about humanity as she let him understand her in ways he hadn't with others. He was certain he would not be able to leave if she wasn't by his side. Leaving her there, and should she die in her attempt to escape, would put a permanent black, very dark mark on his soul.

* * *

Author's Note :: To our lovely reviewers, thank you so much for encouraging us. You truly do keep us posting here...sharing our story. For those who left signed reviews of the last chapter and the reviews aren't being listed, we will be responding - as soon as the option is available. We apologize, on behalf of this website as it is not populating them, for the delay in response. We truly do have a good deal to say. And to Miss Anahnee Mouse, your devotion to us has been astounding. We are forever in your debt for the time you take in reading our work as well as leaving us a few lines of encouragement. Thank you, you have been most generous. We do hope to keep you entertained as we wind this story down. V/R Mandy and Jackie


	10. Chapter 10

**Dream a Good One Tonight  
**Chapter 10

There was a heaviness to his chest; so heavy that he felt like it caused his feet to crash into the ground the second it rushed to meet him, far from where he had left Joey. He had control over his body and he braced Payton's unconscious form against his strong torso, absorbing most of the impact of his landing. It was guilt that made him rocky, pain and regret for having abided by Joey's insistence that he leave. Nothing had pained him more in his life than to leave her with the wraith of her friends, people she was weak to, as they were beyond their own sphere of control. For as strong as he knew she was, with the undeniable bravery he had seen once before and again now in her push to get them free first, no matter how much she denied it, he didn't think she could be **_that _**strong. He could only imagine what it felt to be placed before his friends in that capacity - if given no other option, he wasn't sure he could bring death upon any of the heroes that surrounded him in his own world. They weren't just heroes to J'onn - they were people of outstanding ability and heart, men and women who gave him faith in the people he was there to help. They were family and Joey, in her self-sacrifice and blatant and somewhat brash loyalty, had earned a place among them.

He cursed himself for abandoning her there, but it seemed the only way to get free and preserve the doctor, whose help was greatly needed to reverse all of this in the first place. Never, however, had J'onn regretted such a decision.

J'onn had gone to the only place he could think of, that Joey might know too, as he had seen so many differences to this world, it was hard to tell what was safe and what wasn't. That was why he laid Payton's form on the black, pristine sofa of the Wayne residence, furnished in a very modern and sleek style. The doctor was unmoving, even as J'onn had shook his shoulder to see if he would awake even slightly. A moment later, J'onn stepped back as the full weight of possibilities crashed down on him. "I do not wish her death. I don't wish any of their deaths." He told Payton's sleeping form, as if the man could hear him, as his eyes glowed. He did everything he could to reach out to her, to find her just to be sure she was still alive. If captured, he could handle it…if she escaped, even better. But if Joey died because of his abandonment, J'onn couldn't live with himself. He reached up and ran a hand across his bald head, letting out a sudden growl of frustration when his efforts to connect with her mind through his own brought nothing but silence.

"Joey!" He hissed, both internally and outwardly as he couldn't separate the two in that moment. He stumbled back again, this time without the grace he was so accustomed to, and his eyes glowed even brighter. "Answer me! Please!" He begged of her and felt his body tingle with distress as it piled up rapidly. "Please, don't be dead…I will save you, Joey. I will save you." He promised firmly, standing up even straighter in his spot as he swept around to the window to disappear through it. He had every intention of just leaving the doctor where he was, to scrounge this Earth - or any other possible one - until he found the fiery little shadow jumper he had grown accustomed to in his time spent there.

It was then, for a split second, that he heard something - a murmur reverberated against the insides of his skull - before her voice exploded inside of him as if someone had suddenly turned the volume back up. It made his ears ring and he froze in his spot, his hand on the window sill of the large window he had intended on phasing through. His mind was scrambled slightly in his worry as he normally would have used the grace of his innate abilities to slip right through the floor. He was peering out at the night, as the sky had long ago been penetrated with inky black clouds, as he tried to decipher some of what he heard. Instead, the sound of a thump could be heard behind him before Joey's voice, much more real than what he heard in his head, filled the room.

"J'ONN!" The shrillness to her voice, the intensity of his name in her scream, was enough to rattle his body as he shot off the sill and turned wildly to see where she was. She was half climbing out from the shadow on the ground, underneath the long table that had cast a sharply angled shadow. It took J'onn but a moment to see the hand around her ankle as little sparks of electricity escaped from its finger tips and soaked into the fabric of Joey's pants as well as the lush carpeted floor. There was nothing else, the rest of the arm disappeared into the darkness but as Joey tugged to get free, more and more skin (and even a head of spiky, sporadic hair) could be seen like a fishing bobber in the ocean.

J'onn leaned forward, dropping onto his hands and knees. He was careful not to touch the shadow as he knew it was likely empty space and didn't want to fall through it. He suspected on the other side that it was solid as Joey was not there to make it more than a representation of light reflected off something. He reached out and caught Ash's hand, as it was clearly Ash's that was attacking Joey. The electrical man's skin was covered in sparks, which zapped J'onn but he didn't relent, peeling Ash's fingers back with his intense strength. In a final effort to break free, Joey gave a kick with her free foot and the shadow solidified. "Son of a bitch." She grumbled, wrinkling her nose. "Where's Payton - I want to tell him exactly what I think about his brother right now." She huffed in irritation. "Which is a slew of not so pretty words." Her exasperated grimace turned to J'onn. "I wouldn't want you to question my lady-like status should you hear the foul language I have in mind for all of them."

"A simple thanks would suffice." He told her with the tiniest upturn of his lips. J'onn, in his relief that she had returned safely, felt comfortable offering the best tease he could, which, for her, was very mild. She blinked and drew her head back, shocked at his attempt at wit.

"You're joking right - I totally saved you in there. Don't make me do it again." She pinched her eyebrows together as she climbed to her feet. Her adrenaline was still running high and it made her bite a little more intense than it might be if she were in her normal lazy and lax mentality. She paused, however, when she scrambled to her feet as if on a second thought. She glanced over her shoulder at J'onn and softened, ever so slightly, "Thanks buddy." She told him swiftly and honestly but almost so quickly that it could be missed, before she headed to where Payton was laying on the couch.

J'onn offered a small nod of acknowledgement to her thanks, but let the sentiment hang where it was meant to. "I lost communication with you. I couldn't reach you; it was like you were dead. What happened, Joey?" J'onn asked as he followed behind her to where Payton was.

"Ash happened. I couldn't hear my own thoughts, it's no wonder you couldn't hear them too. He has a way of doing that when he wants to _really_zap you. Scrambles up everything, it was nothing but buzzing my head. Total pain in my ass, that guy. When the accident happened to him, he fried me. I could feel static on me for weeks. Did I mention he's a son of a bitch?" She said, this time more good natured than the first time when she was angry. "You haven't done anything crazy in the five seconds I left you alone have you?"

J'onn paused, befuddled in that moment. "What do you mean?"

"I mean Murph's emotional scramble often leaves residual effects. You know, like if you feel something, it's heightened. He temporarily, even when not focusing on one particularly feeling, turned the volume up on your emotions." She told him smartly, almost waiting for him to respond and when he didn't she laughed knowingly. It wasn't that J'onn didn't have an answer, or was ashamed of the truth, but merely concerned with how easily it was to turn his feelings to an even higher intensity than he already felt them. "I knew it - you did something dumb. It's okay. You don't have to tell me. At least you're still here. Where's that..."

"Batman?"

"I was thinking coward, but I guess Batman will do." She responded as Bruce's voice echoed back to her. J'onn too had turned, looking for his friend and colleague. Only his silhouette could be seen in the moonlight cast by the window. He was very clearly dressed in what was the garb of the nocturnal crusader. J'onn heard Joey's thoughts, without meaning to as that seemed to be a trend with this particular woman. He glanced down at her briefly, curious about what it was she was thinking. She didn't look pleased, but her inner most mindset was actually relieved. The contradiction was astounding, almost as if the mere image of Batman brought hope to her. J'onn was but once more surprised by Joey as she seemed to have such a hard outer shell with the softest insides hidden underneath. "We brought your bounty. Trust us now?"

"I need Dr. Lionel." Batman said in his grim and somewhat somber tone. "He made these things. He will have more information that could be beneficial." J'onn nodded his head briefly before his eyes turned to the doctor who was still passed out on the leather sofa. He stepped towards him before kneeling on the floor, his massive shadow overwhelming Payton's much smaller body. He gently touched Payton's shoulders while connecting to him through their brain waves.

_'Payton...we need your help,'_J'onn's voice echoed in the recesses of Patyon's mind, where J'onn was able to find the bits of him that where coherent. The young doctor was still in shock as he was not normally in the heart of the adventure his brother and friends were. He was normally settled behind a lab station where he toyed with the idea of adventure through genetic deviations. He had patched them all at different points from random battles and encounters that left Murphy with a broken arm or Joey with a concussion or Ash with a little but too much spark to his zap; but being in the heart of it, that was new to Payton.

The doctor's eyes popped open and he sank back in the couch when he spotted J'onn with his eyes aglow. He had momentarily forgotten that the Martian was on their side. His face paled before a soft rose colored blush rose on his cheeks for his embarrassment at having momentarily been startled by J'onn. J'onn offered him a sympathetic look as the man was clearly frantic before relief washed over him at the familiar face. As the endorphins wore off, however, he felt a severe headache starting at the base of his neck and radiating up through his head. Payton gingerly placed his palm to his forehead. "What happen..." He began to ask but his eyes landed on Batman and he was struck silent. "You're...alive..." he breathed out in amazement and sheer awe, when he processed exactly who the man was.

"So it would seem." Batman said simply, firmly and with absolute conviction.

"Joey, you found Batman." Payton turned to the woman. She felt one corner of her mouth come up in contempt, but in a vague smirk as well. She offered him a little nod toward J'onn.

"Nope. Our inconspicuous Martian _found_him. Lets just hope he's the Jesus-like savior you all hope he will be. You let us down, I'm taking this straight to the big guy when I'm dead." She pointed at the ceiling and wrinkled her nose. J'onn frowned for a moment, his eyes turning curiously up to her as he wasn't quite sure what she meant. But then again, he found himself often wondering what exactly it was Joey meant by some of her off-color humor. Batman ignored her entirely and turned his attention to Payton.

"Dr. Lionel, you created these beings. They're your creations. You know them better than anyone, you're the mind behind how they've come to be...I need to know exactly that. The _how _part."

Nothing was more surprising to J'onn than when Payton's mind exploded with a very specific emotion; shame. There was clear regret on his face, embarrassment in his eyes and even an overwhelming cloud of despair that sank into his body as Payton's shoulders slumped. "I didn't mean...I didn't mean to create this, to bring to them this tragedy. My work has become nothing but a mockery to all I've stood for...the hows don't matter so much as the end result which is...it's just murder." Payton dipped his head down, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment and his voice laced with self-loathing. J'onn was overwhelmed by Payton's thoughts of his worth, which were upsetting for how little he believed in himself. He had never encountered a person, thus far, so ready to just give up on himself as Payton was. In both a personal and public level; regret for every moment of his life thus far and therefore he placed no value on living it any longer. "I am a murderer...I know this, but I know of no way to stop this. Not for how far its come...

"Nothing but blind greed and misplaced passion was what they were created from; and now, I fear nothing can save them. There is no hope anymore...what does it matter how it happened if there is no way to stop it? If you mean to punish me for it, to give me what I deserve, by all means. You'll be doing me a favor - doing these people, who have done nothing but suffer because of me, a favor." Payton truly believed it too; J'onn could tell as it took all of Payton's effort to keep tears from falling down his face.

J'onn felt Joey tense up beside him all the while Payton was speaking. He could sense that she was alarmed by the way Payton had taken Batman's explanation of the doctor's work. She glanced up at the Martian and shook her head a little. "Payton!" She finally said firmly, cutting him off and stepping between the doctor and Batman. "Listen to me! You need to help with this, we need you here, right now. Batman can help, he has an idea, a plan, but he needs to you to help better understand how it can best be executed. Because he's right, this is on you...but its on you to fix it too. Not all hope is lost. Are you going to keep doing this instead? Are you going to keep standing there and pissing and moaning about what happened? Are you going to let Ash die? Or are you going to rectify what you freaking started?" She took a small step forward and caught Payton's arm. "Lex has Ash...he'll die, just like _Amy_, if you don't pull it together and focus that brilliant mind everyone talks about. This isn't about you." She told him simply, but firmly.

Somehow her words got into his head, or under his skin, J'onn couldn't be sure which because Payton's mindset shifted. J'onn could feel it as his thoughts bled to nothing but understanding in Joey's words, motivation even. He knew of how Amy had died and therefore knew of her importance; but he was shocked by how Joey's roughness had pushed Payton. In fact, his whole posture straighten as his eyes lifted and his shoulders squared. He could also hear Joey's internal triumph, but it was almost as if she knew it would happen. It was just a matter of how long before she would succeed on working Payton's weaknesses - or his strengths - J'onn couldn't be sure which she'd used as a tool to get the doctor focused.

"What must I do?" He asked Batman with more conviction than J'onn had ever seen him with. Love - in so many forms - was truly what drove those around him. J'onn had seen it in so many capacities that he couldn't help but be intrigued by how fully they, all humans even, were consumed by it.

It was then that Batman explained the serum that he had developed and the effect it would have. He told Payton how it would strike and enhance one of the inner most primal needs of all natural creatures, their flight or fight desire in battle, and how that would break them of Lex's artificial hold on them. He confirmed, from Payton, that they were chemically altered - and that it only worked temporarily - to obey Lex through use of pheromones.

"He's smart, you see. Lex...you must know it already. Pheromones are such a powerful unseen and naturally occurring phenomenon that Lex cashed in on early in the project. He had me engineer an injection that would give the altered creatures the illusion that he was their parent though the use of pheromones, until I could develop a way to genetically embed, in their inherent make up, a gene which would make them perfectly obedient. But I never perfected it and he's been relying on the pheromone concoction."

J'onn could almost sense a sort of smile on Batman's lips, though it was hard to tell on his very stoic face. "Then we're lucky. My 'antidote' won't work against genetic restructuring." Payton gave a small nod in agreement before he continued.

"Inoculating them will take too long though." Payton said. "We would have to inject each one and some might be hostile. To free them, as you suggest, we will need to do it much faster. Lex has eyes everywhere, it will take us too long to inject each creature before he realizes we're even there. I get that you would prefer to work alone and that this is your plan. However, I think you may _need_our help for what I'm about to suggest." He nodded to the vial of silvery liquid that Batman had produced to explain his plan, and to confirm it would undo whatever Payton had done. "I have access to the ventilation system. If we inject it directly into the air supply it will effect the whole facility in a matter of minutes...maybe seconds. It will release all of the visiugo from Lex's hold immediately, faster than he can regain control. They will have the chance to escape."

"But...if you put it in the air, won't it effect the people too?" Joey asked, her eyebrows pinching together momentarily.

"Yes." Batman said simply as J'onn expected he agreed with Payton's theory as he didn't deny it. "But it won't matter. It won't impact them negatively. It will temporarily instill the same trait in them that it will in the captured visiugo and creatures of Lex, but the idea is only to break the wall down and give them their freedom - not to permanently change them. It's supposed to be natural, unlike what he has done to them. People are just animals with the ability to reason...sometimes. Others, they are pure instinct." Joey's nostrils flared at him. "You think I'm joking? Mobs lose their humanity, I've seen it. Crowds aren't people when incited to violence. Neither will they."

"And you think this is a good idea then - because those people will become a crowd when they suddenly want to get the hell out of there or fight each other to death." Joey said in disbelief.

"Yes." Payton informed her quietly, before Batman could interject. "A few casualties for the whole will be worth it. These people need to be freed. You know that. It's the only way to stop Lex. It's the only way to fix this for good."

Joey, however, already knew that. It was bitter reality that couldn't be missed and J'onn knew it too. It was just that her mouth had shot off without her. "That's why we'll be there." Batman said, in general. "To stop the fights and encourage their escape. Even the employees, the human ones."

J'onn bowed his head softly in agreement. "Then our plan is set." He agreed too before glancing to Joey. It was then that Joey knew this wasn't just going to be a prison break.

This was going to be the end of a war. Someone was going to win and someone was going to lose. The victor was still unknown.

* * *

_Author's Note_ :: As always we would like to take a moment to thank our readers, those of you who have travelled this journey with us and those of you who may be new. We greatly appreciate you making it this far. We have written Chapter 11 as well. It is being edited at this point and hopefully will be posted soon. We apologize about the delay in this chapter's being posted. We both were busy with work and school, and when we had time to write we were together rather than at our computers. The beach was our playground this past weekend. If anything, it allowed for inspiration to carry us and give us the creative juices to really invest our time into these next two chapters. We do hope you enjoyed this one and that you will like the next.

To Anahnee, thank you so much for your dedication. We can't say it enough. We appreciate your encouragement and CC. We hope to not disappoint you. Furthermore, I (Mandy that is) remarked at how I feel it's a shame that you have not come across responsible writers as far as OC's go. It's a shame, for almost everyone in fact, as I have the same argument. Jackie was well. We both found it sad that you are duped for the most part into reading a story because the OC seems good and then is changed. I can assure you, if there is one thing we try our very best to do, it's stay true to our characters. Joey will forever be sardonic. Even when she softens, usually briefly, she's still just as cynical. Murphy will always smile and be hopeful, Ash will always be skeptical and distant for his OCD and Payton uncertain of himself. We try to remain true to them and are beyond delighted to hear that you enjoyed Joey in this chapter. Just in general we are glad to hear it. Thank you.

Please, we'd be glad to hear what anyone who's reading this story thinks. If you have a moment, please, please let us know. V/R Mandy and Jackie.


	11. Chapter 11

**Dream a Good One Tonight  
**Chapter 11

"That easy then?" Joey asked as she watched Batman and Payton lean over the massive generator on the roof of the LexCorp building. Neither acknowledged her comment, but she heard the giant fan inside buzz to a stop.

"They'll notice soon that the air stopped." Batman said as he swiftly went back to working. J'onn watched on as well, prepared to assist should Batman show any indication that he needed it. He wasn't surprised, however, when the man never indicated anything of the sort. He was working quickly. Payton scrambled forward, holding the casing of the generator that had been lifted off as Batman extracted a container from inside. He then hoisted up a jug, which was the same shape and make up as the one he had taken out, but this one was filled with the silver serum he'd developed. He turned back and took the paneling from Payton's hand and with his free one, he gave one of the knobs a hearty turn. The fan kicked on with a sudden thud as it was brought back to life. "It's done." He said.

"How long do we wait?" Payton asked and J'onn could hear the anxiousness in his voice as he knew the man wanted nothing more than to get inside and find his brother.

"It will be chaotic. It should only take two minutes for the full dosage to be released into the ventilation system. Give it five for complete effectiveness." He told Payton. Joey leaned over the edge of the building, looking down the sheer veneer that was a reflective wall of mirrors all the way down to ground level, where the building met pavement. She wasn't sure what she expected to see, should anyone come busting out the glass windows or if the building itself would implode with them on top of it. All the work they'd put into ending one project, one project that could dethrone the reigning juggernaut, seemed both anticlimactic and stressful all in one instance.

It was serene, nothing seemed out of the ordinary as cars still drove by and life ticked on. She turned back to say something to Batman when a noise, that sounded like gunfire, rang out. She dropped down as if that would protect her as Batman and J'onn ran to where she was, both leaning over the edge of the building. The sound had come from one of the windows fully shattering, blowing out glass and showering the road below in shards that trickled down like raindrops. With it a clump of visiugo and people alike poured out as if ants evacuating a decimated mound. Batman leaned a little further over to see some climbing up, others flying in an escape, some falling straight down. It was also in that very second that he saw Lex shoot out of the opening, as if thrown, with his body mangled and limp.

Batman hopped up on the edge in a instant, but J'onn caught his arm before he could use any of his gadgets to follow after the man's body. "No." J'onn's eyes were fiercely aglow as his mind was working in overdrive to understand what was going on. Apparently, in their efforts, much had worked just as they expected - but on a much grander scale than any of them could have ever anticipated. The animals, genetically transformed and not, the humans as well, with the natural instinct to fight, when faced with danger, were released from Lex's hold and had mutinied on the person they knew, under all that repression, to be abusing them. Rather than fighting each other, they all turned on the single man. "He's gone already, there's no use in endangering yourself for a lifeless body. I cannot reach him. You could be harmed in the mayhem. They're aren't done with him." J'onn said and it was then, as Batman's eyes turned back to the visiugo clawing free from the one opening, that he realized they weren't trying to escape - they were _after _Lex's dead body. When he hit the ground, those already there, swarmed him. They truly looked like insects, from the height of the roof, swarming a potential food source. In this case, they were ensuring their freedom.

"There are other's that need our help more." J'onn's stoic bass explained. His mind was aflame with the chaotic nature inside the building, the dangers of all those trying to flee, without knowledge of how to do so, harming each other by accident as they all frantically tried to burrow, run, climb or fly their way out. It was a frenzy of carnal thought, no filter on a single one as chemical reactions fired off in their brains.

"And Ash...we have to find Ash." Payton's panic shot through the roof and he squeaked slightly as he considered the madhouse that existed below them. J'onn too worried for them all, specifically the ones they knew, and their ability to survive the chaos of potentially deadly creatures. Joey had stood back up next to J'onn. She looked up to him with round eyes.

"Can you hear them all?" She asked and he bowed his head a single time.

"I'm trying to determine the best place to begin and to locate those who could help us. Your friends." He said simply. He had barely had the chance to say all he had to convey to her about his intention before she leaned far over the building and shouted.

"DAICHI!" The black winged, raven-man was amid the mass attacking Lex, his charcoal wings visible as he flapped them hard. "DAICHI!" She screamed again, but J'onn caught her arm just as he had Batman's a moment before.

"He cannot hear you. He is still being effected by Batman's antidote. It will take him time to snap from it." J'onn told her, confused by her actions in the first place. She did not turn to look at him though. Instead, her eyes were pointed down, over the building. He could tell she was pensive, considering her options and certainly toying with the validity of his words. Finally, she looked up to him. J'onn, for the short time he'd known her, could tell her expression was something less than compliant or accepting of his words.

"It's a long way down." She told him firmly, as if it was something he should already know. "You just said you were looking for my friends, people that could help us. You may not know Daichi, you may not have met him before he was a violent drone - but I would trust Daichi, the one who thinks for himself, with my life. Love, you said, is precious. It makes people do things they might not otherwise. We don't have to be romantically involved for him to love me; he loves all people, all creatures. You also said it will take time to snap him out of it. But I think it will take _something_. Something that goes with the innate need to run or protect." J'onn felt his heart seize in his chest as her intentions became increasingly clear to him. And a moment of fear grip him for what she may be implying. "We need his help." She sat down on the edge that overlooked the sheer side of the building. "I trust him." She added and with that final statement, she flung herself over the edge completely.

J'onn jumped a second after her, his large Martian hands gripping at nothing but air. Panic rose in his chest as he was stunned by how suddenly she disappeared. But that panic was then replaced by focus as he followed her, chasing her plummeting body. She was fearless - in his mind, he could hear her, and her thoughts matched what she had said. It was one of the few times that she maintained what she was saying with what she actually felt inside. J'onn didn't have as much faith in her newly released friend as she did and he would not let her die any more than he would Batman or Payton. Even if there was trust to be had, he was fearful of the man now in natural overdrive. He heard, over the whipping wind, her voice shout out to the visiugo again. Much to J'onn's surprise, the blonde man turned, his wings beating as he was hovering over the mess of people trying to get their proverbial bite out of Lex Luthor.

"Joey!" J'onn wasn't sure if he heard Daichi's actually call out or if his mind sprang into action. In a flash of charcoal colored feathers, the winged man darted up and in a second had caught her as if he'd been doing it his whole life. "Are you out of your mind? You could have been killed! Its not necessary to scare me like that, what if I hadn't been here!"

"You've always caught me." She told him, and J'onn heard, as a bright smile laced even her tone and certainly shown on her face as she reached up and kissed the Asian man on the cheek. "Nice to have you back, buddy. I didn't want to see the mess you would have made of Lex had you actually gotten under that pile." Daichi's wings were beating even more fiercely to keep them both afloat. "So I figured I'd snap you out of it. Save you the horror of blood on your hands." Her head swiveled around, as if she knew J'onn would also follow. Her tongue poked out at him and she wrinkled her nose. "Don't be so sure you know everything there is to know about that which is precious." She told him snidely, mocking him.

"You're going to be the death of me." Daichi told her as his eyes drifted over to J'onn. He seemed momentarily shocked to see the flying Martian. It surprised J'onn too as the bird didn't recognize him, though they had met before when Daichi was nothing more than a ravenous, obedient visiugo. "Did you lose something?" He lifted Joey a little bit as if indicating her in his own stoic sort of tease.

"It seems to be a rather common theme with her." J'onn offered in his own brand of joking, though there was a relief in her safety.

"Look as awesome as it is that you two want to talk about me, I can't actually fly. And as that's the case, I'm at your mercy. It's tragic, I know, but could we please get on task and stop poking fun at Joey and her shortcomings?" She asked them firmly. "Up with it, Wings." She instructed Daichi by way of a nickname, pointing to the broken window. J'onn watched Daichi nod at him and in a split second, his wing beat rapidly and he, with Joey in his arms, soared higher. He landed just inside the boardroom where the mob had found Lex, cowering, as his own innate desire was to run. This was the room he'd run to.

"Cornered himself." Daichi said simply, those two words illustrating Lex's final moments. The entire widow was gone, they had literally swarmed him. The door inside was no longer that of a doorway as the doors had been busted off the hinges and the opening had been clawed and broken wider. There were bits of electrical wire hanging and the drywall that had made the wall to begin with was framed by jagged and raggedy edges.

J'onn had landed right next to them and once Joey was on her feet, Daichi having set her there, she leaned through the broken window up to where they'd been on the roof. She sprang back, however, as Batman, with his arm looped around Payton and his other hand holding to his zip line, swung into the room with them. "Friend of yours?" Batman said casually and in passing as he gestured to Daichi.

"Yes." Payton answered for he and Joey rather hastily. "Can we - "

"Yeah, Ash - we know." Joey snapped suddenly at Payton as her tolerance threshold was clearly pushed. "I want to get Murphy and Shiki out of here too, Payton. Not to mention all the people we came for. All the people you - " J'onn stepped in, however, as he knew that Joey could undo whatever she had done to get Payton moving and helpful by letting her go on. Furthermore, he also knew they had to assist or it may cost many lives - some of those lives could be familiar faces. Batman seemed to already be one step ahead as he shot for the door, regardless of who was speaking, with his own agenda in mind.

"Now is not the time." J'onn had placed a hand on Joey's shoulder and she fell instantly silent. There was a moment of grappling frustration that passed Joey as she wanted nothing more than to snap at Payton for his one track mind. But a moment later, it passed and in return, J'onn received an abrupt, 'fine' from the spitfire.

"Well what are you waiting for then? Lead the way Payton, where do they keep everyone?" Joey gestured to the door where Batman had just disappeared, though she was already following him. However, when she passed through the opening in the wall, as it hardly qualified as a door at this point, she came to a sharp stop. Batman was right in front of her. "Get back!" He hissed, giving her a shove back into the room. She smacked hard, in her stumble back, into J'onn. The Martian caught her under the arms and hoisted her back to her feet. Batman ducked back in the room, barely, missing a practical stampede through the hall. They thundered passed - all sorts of creatures and critters of varying size and degrees of humanity.

"They're still human under all that." Payton shouted over the roar of the mass. "We need to give them direction, not hurt them! Order, or they'll keep being a mob. Where's the intercom?"

"I'll take care of it. You find your brother." Batman had already shot out of the room, sprinting down the hall, his cape whipping around behind him as he went. Payton frowned for a moment as he fought the urge to follow, but wanted to find his brother too.

Joey glanced over at J'onn, who in turn had looked to her. "Where would prisoners be kept?" J'onn asked but Daichi beat his wings and took a step forward. J'onn wanted to trust him the way Joey did, as blindly as she did, in his strength and honesty but it was hard when he had seen nothing but a violent man. Yet J'onn was a forgiving man; willing to give a second chance so long as there was reason to. And Joey was his reason right then; she was the only thing that kept him calm around Daichi and much less defensive towards the winged man.

"They weren't kept with prisoners, they were more than that - a prize almost. Lex took them to the boiler by the lab to detain them while he could watch them die. Its the most secure room in the building, no one gets inside without proper clearance through Lex himself."

"We need to hurry." Payton said swiftly, his eyes having widened at Daichi's news. He seemed frantic for the way he ran a hand through his hair.

"Why? We're winning..._finally_." Joey said stiffly. There was an air of tightness about her, she was trying not to let her concern show. Payton's hastiness clearly alarmed her.

"Yeah but, I sort of expected them to be here...just right here. All of them, where we could get to them quickly. Get them out. I didn't think it would take this much time, it's been too long already." Payton grew somewhat quiet, though he had dipped his hands into his pockets as he moved closer to the opening in the way. Even J'onn frowned at the tone of his voice and found himself frightened by the way Payton was speaking. Daichi puffed up a little bit before tacking on a quick, 'What do you mean?' Payton's eyes were on the ground as he seemed to be thinking quickly. "When the component that Batman put into the air systems runs out, the fumes from its combustion into its gases form...they will become toxic and highly flammable. The product is so strong, its waste is stronger. We haven't much time."

"Great...you and your fancy words, are you saying if we don't choke, we'll explode?" Joey's nostrils flared and she tried to quell the hysteria in her voice as she stepped closer to Payton. He flinched a little bit, pressing his lips together. J'onn, however, was oblivious to it as he thought quickly to how Batman had fled to work quickly, and how they should have been behind him if this was all true. In fact, J'onn already moved to urge Joey away as they didn't need to waste time arguing.

"Something like that." Payton nodded. "I didn't think it would be an issue, I thought..."

"Yeah well next time I could spontaneously combust, I'd sort of like to know! Lionels - God!" Joey snapped before she pushed passed Payton and J'onn quickly followed her.

"Shiki's down there!" Daichi hissed at the doctor, staring with narrowed slits for his eyes. The tension in the room was thick as they snapped at each other so quickly. "He separated us after you escaped! Because of you - he could die because of you. I should...God...I remember all the things I did...and now he will die because of me too!"

"Daichi, stop! Shiki's down there, yes, so is Ash...so please, just take us." The doctor snapped, his glasses sliding slightly down his nose as his eyes honed in on the blonde man. Payton, J'onn was impressed, had gathered his bravery without needing to be prodded as he had before. The visiugo nodded, as if he was proverbially whipped into his right mind, and he sprinted forward past Joey and through the opening. He was fast, J'onn was able to easily keep up with him though as he followed with graceful but quick steps. Joey manipulated the shadows, hopping in one and springing out of another in a fluid stride in order to follow closely but Payton had to actually run. However, his desire to keep Ash alive seemed to be pushing him to stay with the others as beads of sweat broke out across his face and he was gasping for breath, but still running hard.

The corridors were complicated, with doors everywhere and clean lines; but Daichi seemed to know exactly where he went as he led them with ease. Some of the doors were smashed open too, clawed aside, and bits of wood and plaster that now littered the floor. The black-winged man stopped at a set of double metal doors. His fist collided with them, even as he skidded to a halt, leaving an indent in the surface, as he was frantically trying to save his mate on the other side. But the metal doors didn't waiver despite his obvious force which did nothing but infuriate the already panicked visiugo.

"Wait here." J'onn told them calmly, his body becoming strikingly translucent before any of them could protest. Daichi huffed still as he tugged at the door to open it despite J'onn's actions. With ease, the Martian passed through the wall only to reappear on the other side. _"I'm coming with you."_He heard and the second his body became solid, Joey was at his side - his long shadow had been her source of travel.

"You can't shake me that easily. I'm like a God damn leech." She told J'onn with a lopsided smile. "I'll work on getting the doors open. You find them." She told J'onn swiftly before turning to tamper with the lock. He had no need to question her and he knew time was against them. The air was already getting heavy with the toxin and it was hard to breathe, even for him. He could hear Batman's mind, having reached out to him to see where he was - "_I've evacuated the building, but you're walking on thin ice. Get out NOW!_" J'onn didn't waste time answering him, he ran forward instead.

"J'onn." Murphy's voice was the one that hit him first as it was clear that the other mentally attuned one sensed J'onn there. After all, it was Murphy that lured him to this particular world in the first place and therefore he could detect those around him by their emotional state. He was on the other side of a pane of thick glass, trapped like an animal on display at the zoo. He had climbed up from the floor, Ash and Shiki slowly following Murphy - wondering what he'd sensed. The Martian met him on the opposite side of the glass as he easily passed through it. "Thank God! I thought I tricked my own emotions as I wanted nothing more than to fight my way out of this damn glass box. Lucky for me, you're real." He grinned at the Martian.

"It was Batman. He developed a means to correct Luthor's sedative." J'onn explained swiftly. "We haven't much time. We must go." The Martian wheeled back to punch at the glass, to free them from their cage, but all three of the others frantically began to scream their variety ways of getting J'onn to stop. Their three voices meshed together as Ash had jerked forward to stop him, though pulling back before he touched the glass surface, Shiki's wings flapped rapidly and Murphy had simply shouted 'No!'.

"Its sealed intentionally with Luthor technology so that if the glass is broken the whole room goes up. Don't do it! It's sick - we would've done that ourselves if it would work." Ash explained, little beads of sweet forming on his forehead. "He vacuumed it so we would have to watch ourselves die when the oxygen wears out."

"Good thing there's light in here then, huh?" Joey had slipped through a shadow on the floor at Ash's feet. "I got the door open." She wrinkled her nose at J'onn. "Not so bad after all eh?" She grabbed Ash's hand quickly, the electrical man flinching and hissing out in discomfort. Together they sank into his shadow and appeared from a different shadow on the other side. "Go!" She told J'onn pushing Ash into the Martian, who had phased back through the confined translucent room. "Get him out of here."

One by one she pulled each from their glass cage and J'onn had guided them to the now open door. The boiler was the source of their danger as that was where Lex had connected the two - should either pressure drop in the least, the other would blow - the glass cage, or the boiler - thus killing his prisoners in a death he felt they deserved for all the trouble they'd caused him. But, beyond the glass cage the air was dense, heavy and barely breathable. Joey coughed and Murphy had his hand over his mouth, both their heads ducked down. Daichi was pulling Shiki's shirt up over his nose and mouth with no regard to himself. Ash and Payton had briefly embraced before both buried their faces in the sleeve of their arms, trying not to ingest the toxic air.

"We have to get out of here now." J'onn leaned over to tell Joey. She nodded in agreement before she coughed hard, bits of blood reflected on the palm of her hand. Her voice was gone and she pointed to the window instead. She reached forward and grabbed Daichi's arm.

"The window." She choked. "Take Murphy...he can't fly either."

In an instant, J'onn felt the building get very hot and he knew they had seconds left. Fortunately, Daichi was swift on his feet, with no hesitation in Joey's direction. He had scooped up the gangly man shot forward, busting through the glass and leaving a shower of shards around him, some dusting the surface of his wings. Shiki was right behind him. Ash had gathered up Payton and on a cloud of sparks and bolts, shooting off in all directions, he took the same exit. Joey stumbled, the oxygen completely gone and her head foggy as she tried to get her feet to move. J'onn knew there was no time to waste. He could hear the first explosion some dozens of floors below them as it shook the very foundation of the building. "Joey." He whispered swiftly just as she collapsed. He was under her in a second, his arms having scooped her small frame up before she actually hit the ground. When he needed to be, J'onn was very fast and equally as graceful. He knew, right then, he needed to be. He shot from the building, with Joey cradled in his arms, faster than he'd moved in a long time. The fire from the explosion that was blowing out each floor was deafening. The windows around him bowed outwards from the internal pressure of such intense heat before exploding in loud pops, sending fiery chunks of glass raining down on the street below.

A burst of heat shot up J'onn's back, licking the frame of the window he jumped from, and made him lose his control in flight as he and Joey were force forward from the blast. He smacked hard into the building adjacent to LexCorp, skidding against the brick surface. Joey slipped from his grasp and her unconscious form fell like a ragdoll down, with her dark hair falling upwards with the speed of gravity pulling on her limp body. He, having been deprived of breathable atmosphere as well, along with the force he hit the building, fell too. He remembered floating and the sound of wings beating around him before everything got very quiet.

* * *

_Author's Note ::_ Well dear readers...we are winding down and getting ready to soon, very soon in fact, put this piece of fiction behind us. We hope you've enjoyed the ride. We sure have. We hope, beyond hope, that you enjoyed it. Please, we would appreciate any words you may have for us - whether good or bad. ^_^

To our most devoted Anahnee...we always enjoy your reviews. I'm glad that we all had that necessary break for Chapter 10 and we are very glad you enjoyed it. Joey is one of Mandy's creation and as a result Jackie stopped her writing for a bit and said it was time for Mandy to take over. We literally switch up mid chapter...sometimes mid sentence. She said, when she read Mandy's contributions, that's why I had to stop...I just can't capture Joey's humor like you can and it was the VERY same part you pointed out. Clearly this was a defining Joey comment as two, who seem to know this character quiet well, addressed the same part. Thank you, we are actually very flattered to have you as a reviewer and that you would point out something specific.. You are also a responsible reviewer and that is very much appreciated. Thank you...so very much for sticking with us throughout this story.


	12. Chapter 12

**Dream a Good One Tonight  
**Chapter 12

When J'onn started to come to, he could tell he was laying down. He wasn't comfortable, nor was it quiet. In fact, he could still feel the sensation of the LexCorp's building heat radiating out from it. He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious, but he suspected it wasn't very long as chaos still ensued. "Joey - where's Joey?" He asked to the grayish, mostly human shaped, blob that was hovering over him. She was his one responsibility in the exit and he'd failed in that, having crashed himself - not just losing her. He couldn't discern who it was right away as the face was cast in the shadow from the LexCorp building still being eaten by the explosions and a variety of flames licking the frame as it was nearly the only thing left to consume. His mind was tired from worry and fear; therefore, he hadn't even the energy to try to telepathically recognize the person above him.

"Whoa chill big guy." It was Murphy's voice and J'onn tensed up, on reflex, for the fact that his last interaction with Murphy had been particularly devastating to him. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "You took quite a spill. Good thing you're not the only one that can fly huh? We keep around the winged beasts for something more than shock value. I'm teasing! Don't hit me please." Murphy joked before plopping down next to J'onn. "She's over there. Shiki caught her. I'm rather enjoying the fireworks, even with the ash and soot everywhere. This is our victory parade. It's spectacular." There was a note of genuine relief in the dreamy smile that was situated on Murphy's face. His face looked much younger as the orange light danced off the contours of his features. In fact, J'onn wondered then how old Murphy actually was. It was the first time that he considered that the man, aged by experience, might actually not be nearly as old as he seemed. Even so, he had child-like inspiration as he stared, truly lost in their victory.

"You don't have to be afraid." Murphy glanced over at J'onn who, in turn, looked up to him. And when he said it, J'onn realized that he was being manipulated by Murphy yet again. This time it was something much less evasive as the fear he _should_feel was completely eliminated. He felt oddly serene, naturally and yet unnaturally at the same time. It was comfortable, but with the sheer amount of fire around him, roaring even, he should be terrified. Apparently Murphy anticipated it, both his fear in Joey's health as she wasn't present and in the fact that Murphy had witnessed his actions earlier to fire, and thus offered J'onn the calmness that he was experiencing right then.

"We need to get out of here." Batman bent down next to J'onn, surprising J'onn as he was so caught up in his own thoughts, he didn't anticipate his friend's voice. But he gave a small nod a moment later, letting Batman's presence distract him over his own musings. "Joey needs medical attention and this isn't the place to recover. For any of you - come on."

J'onn didn't think of arguing, he trusted his friend's judgement, but Murphy seemed surprised to suddenly see Batman there. "I know the perfect place." He said helpfully, hopping up swiftly with a youthful bounce. He placed his circled index finger and thumb in his mouth, giving a loud whistle with the passage of air over his teeth. It got the attention of his friends. "You know the place."

J'onn had gotten to his feet, having been looking for Joey. He spotted her not far from where he was, though it was hard to see through the air thick with ash and sparks of ember. Both Shiki and Payton were leaned over her as they shielded her from further harm. "Let me." Shiki said, reaching forward to touch Joey's face, but Payton opened his mouth to protest. "Your medicine is meant for animals only. I understand both. I _am_both." Shiki explained to Payton whose eyebrows furrowed in thought at Shiki's statement. J'onn, however, leaned down between the two of them and scooped her up before either could actually protest. He had no intention of acknowledging their opposition if they did as she was his responsibility. Her limp, dead weight against the muscle of his forearms made her seem much smaller than she normally was. Even in comparison to his size. Her face was laced with burns and scorches and her skin was blackened in many patches.

"She's my responsibility. Let me." J'onn said, holding her close to his chest as he cradled her in his arms. "Please, lead the way." Shiki hesitated for a short moment, as if he was contemplating telling J'onn it was a bad idea, before he simply nodded his head in agreement and took to the skies with J'onn not far behind.

The place they arrived at was not one J'onn expected; the white lab, perhaps. Maybe even the farm house or the park they had originally met in. Instead, it was a home - an actual house standing on green grass with a paved drive way and a bird house seated out in the yard. However, inside it seemed like no one had been there in months. There was a thick layer of dust on the furniture and cobwebs lined the corners. "Are you out of your mind? We can't be here." J'onn heard Ash hiss at Murphy, having snatched him up by the arm when they were all inside.

"No one would follow us here. There's no time to argue, lay her on the couch. Payton, fetch towels and a warm bowl of water. I suppose you'll know where they are. Daichi, find me something that can make fire and a knife." Shiki instructed, brushing past J'onn, but waving him forward to lay Joey down. "She's inhaled too much. She's much more fragile than she lets on, though I'm sure she'd bite my head off for letting that secret out. The toxins content per volume was too much. We'll need to bleed her some or else she's going to be running on nothing but tainted blood until it will eventually seized all of her organs and...no more Joey. I know it sounds archaic, but it's the only way to get the poison out and let her body regenerate healthy blood. Please...I know I don't deserve it, but if you could trust me." Shiki said the last part softly, bowing his head a little bit in silent apology - which J'onn was quick to hear - along with a soft plea for some measure of trust so that he might help Joey.

"Thank you." J'onn told the bird healer after a moment, having carefully lain Joey down. He wanted to trust all of these people and though he had seen what Daichi and Shiki did, he knew too that it was something more that drove them to act as they had. He could understand, better than anyone, how love could be such a deciding factor in anything. Therefore he believed Shiki, as best he could, that he would honestly look after Joey. J'onn himself knew some about medicine, but he was in no proper state of mind to be of assistance. He fully backed up, for as large as he was, even compared to the Asian visiugo with their massive wings, he was graceful. Shiki had looked up to him, a small bow was offered to J'onn. Instinctively, J'onn took a few more steps back, giving Shiki room to work. Payton had bustled forward with the items requested and Daichi wasn't far behind with a knife and lighter.

J'onn slowly turned to let them work, unable to watch the knife pierce her skin. His eyes were taking in the house and it's presence instead. Furthermore, for as safe as he'd felt near the burning building, he was uncomfortable with the idea that the lighter might be lit. And that such a flame was held so close to Joey's otherwise compromised body - he squirmed at the idea.

"Cozy, ain't it?" Murphy leaned over and lifted his chin triumphantly at J'onn.

"Indeed." J'onn said softly; the house did feel like a home, in some way, even without its occupants. "To whom does it belong?"

"Joey." Murphy responded swiftly. "Just like grandma's house - she always was a stickler for knitted pillows and cookies." There was a teasing grin on Murphy's face that made it hard to tell if he was serious or not.

J'onn seemed suddenly struck by that concept. His eyes drifted back to the couch to where she lay - her couch. A soft orange glow lit his irises momentarily and he felt a soft smile pull at the corner of his lips. It was the tiniest upturn, but one more thing that pointed to how complex she turned out to be. He hadn't, in the short time he'd truly gotten to know her, suspected she was the home owner sort. A domestic - instead, she seemed to be a floater in society. The sort to live out of suitcases or the trunk of a car. Murphy, however, seemed to sense what J'onn was thinking simply because it was what everyone thought of Joey.

"It was another lifetime ago. She was different then, when she lived here. Sort of different, I mean. I don't think she's ever been anything but coarse. It's kinda her M.O. But she smiled more back then, even laughed big from time to time." Murphy himself smiled at the memory. "She misses him...she misses them a lot. Its one of the reasons why she stopped coming back here. It wasn't the same anymore, she wasn't the same."

J'onn felt the ridges over his eyes dip down in confusion and he looked back at Murphy swiftly. "Whom?"

"Layton, of course." Murphy chuckled, but J'onn remained confused as he had yet to learn of a Layton in Joey's life. In fact, he found himself learning so much so quickly, he was intrigued even more by the young woman that was still a stranger. "And Keagan. You know, her family."

J'onn was quiet for a moment, struck by the idea that she had a family at one point. He was sad for her simply because she was sad in the first place; she deserved so much more than despair for all she gave without asking anything in return. "She certainly is full of surprises."

"You can say that again. Layton, he's those Lionel boys' cousin. That's how we met them." Murphy explained. "That was back when I was just Dexter. Wow, it's been a long time since anyone called me Dex." He marveled at the concept as if it were something foreign to hear out loud. "After everything changed, when Layton and Keagan were killed, she started calling me Murph...Dexter Murphy, you see...what with my first name sounding too much like the one responsible for Layton's death. Dex...Lex, tomato - tuh-m-ah-to. Plus, to be honest, I didn't like it much either. She's a Lionel too. Just through marriage. Layton was a fox, one of the original pack that came forward to expose themselves against the Japanese ravens who were giving visiugo a bad name. The Corax. Shiki and Diachi came to us that way, they were the ambassadors who wanted peace. That's how Payton knew about the visiugo too, what with having one in the family. Its crazy how this war turned everyone into what they weren't - all of us became something else. Back then, Joey and Layton saved people, from a band of bug visiugo who had a superiority complex and were kidnapping humans, 'Mundanes' as we call everyday people, as food. That's how Keagan was killed. He was...five or so. They took him, not as food, but to prove a point to Joey and Layton, his parents, who were interrupting their way of life. All before Lex even showed up - they were always in a war against their own species of varying sorts, he just manipulated that. Add in humanity and their judgment and it just...went down hill from there. You can see them over there." He pointed to the wall where a picture was framed and hanging.

Layton was a beautiful man who clearly believed in his natural form as he was shoeless and shirtless with long, wavy blond locks. Joey looked much the same, attempting the same faux disapproving smile as the handsome man chucked their son up in the air. She looked happy though, he could see it on her face. The candid photo caught just the right moment as the little boy reached his peak in mid air. J'onn smiled softly at the idea of such a time when there was a carefree happiness to be had for the otherwise jaded woman. He, in that moment, realized that perhaps they had more in common than he could have ever anticipated. He too lost family in war, through tragedy and found himself lost without them most days. Others, however, he felt content with where his life was now and he felt that same contentment from Joey. That as sad as she was, she wasn't sad enough to stop trying to give to those that needed her. Just as J'onn did everything in his power to serve those who were in a bad way.

"Maybe now we can go back to our lives. I could be Dex again...though I kinda like Murph too." Murphy said wistfully, slipping up behind J'onn as he looked at the picture. "It seems...surreal." J'onn could feel that Murphy was at ease, but lost all at once from the way he spoke, the way his mind seemed confused by all the possibilities. These people had grown up in war, they lived nothing but for so long that it was hard to subtract from it. At least he remembered a time on Mars where there was absolute peace and prosperity.

"Perhaps." He said simply. It was the first time, since his arrival, that he considered his own home and returning to it. He couldn't, however, leave - or even suggest it - until he could speak with her. He felt compelled to say goodbye; to let her know that though she had lost everything, she did good in giving everything back to those who still had something to gain. And in it, she had his respect and his admiration. He had never been so smitten by someone's bravery and self-sacrifice before, nor had he felt so connected to another as he was to Joey in that moment.

"She'll be alright. She's a fighter and she'll be damned if she gets to the light at the end of the tunnel any time soon. She's not done yet, there's more to do. After all...you're still here. And Joey never leaves a job unfinished." Murphy clapped J'onn on the shoulder. "You don't belong here." He added with a small, sad little shrug before loping off. He paused, however, before disappearing into one of the nearby rooms. "Thanks J'onn. We couldn't have done it without you. You're really a hero, helping a bunch of strangers for no reason other than they needed it."

"I'm glad I could help." J'onn said in his unwavering stoic voice.

J'onn didn't need sleep, but the others did and they all peeled off for their own brand of rest. The two Corax took to their raven familiar forms and cuddled with their feathers puffed up, perching as birds on a high sill over the front window. Batman had taken his leave, assuring them he would return the next day. Murphy had remained in the room he'd slipped off too. Payton fell asleep in the chair across from the couch Joey was situated on, as he offered to care for her should she wake up in the night, and Ash slipped into the back bedroom that once belonged to a little boy.

"Ugh...you're still here?" J'onn heard Joey's sleepy voice before the sun came up. He was standing by the window sill, watching outside as the grass was speckled with droplets of water that reflected in the soon approaching sunlight. She was quiet, clearly cautious of others in the house. Though it wasn't clear on her face, when he turned to look, he could hear the recognition she had for the room they were in. "I was sort of hoping the whole thing had been a really bad dream, but the crazy ass stiffness would suggest otherwise." She said, groaning as she lifted herself up to sit lazily on the couch.

"You really should be resting." J'onn warned her softly, sympathetically and in gentle compassion. He meant it too. He was, in his own way, still taken with her. Perhaps now more curious than he had been before. "We can talk, if you like, but please...you should be resting while we do. Seventh grade, I believe you said..."

"You know that I'm not going to lay back down, no matter how many times you repeat it. I just need to shake it off. I'll be peachy in two minutes." She grinned again, a lopsided little smirk. He could tell, by her voice, that she was both tired and weak, but she wasn't going to show it if she could avoid it. The brief smile seemed to turn to scorn as it slipped from her face. "Life sucks. Then you die. There's very little in there to look forward to. So it wasn't seventh grade, but it still didn't end well. The middle parts...they were good though. Who was it that told you? Murphy and his big mouth, I'm sure - he's such a girl when it comes to gossip." She scoffed, giving a light roll of her eyes. "I just," she paused and shook her head, "The last thing I said to him - it wasn't I love you, which I did. It wasn't be careful, which I should have said. No. It was 'don't do this, you're an idiot'. I've played that day over and over again in my head and every time, I think of what I could have said or should have...and how much of an idiot I actually am. What if he didn't know? What if he didn't know I loved him before he died..." She had to stop as she momentarily choked on her words, the memory of that day flashing through her thoughts as J'onn quietly listened. "I don't even know why I'm saying this to you. The Martian...from the Justice League. It's...ridiculous." She said the final word firmly, with conviction in her voice as if she was trying to convince herself of how dumb it was to care anymore.

"Is it? It seems to me that you need to tell someone. Or you may not be saying it at all." He explained as his eyes glowed from the emotion he too felt. "He knew you loved him, that I am sure of...his death was not in vain, nor was your defense against it afterwards. My family, they too died and I have to believe they knew how I loved them. Or else, I might go crazy with doubt...the only thing that keeps me going is knowing I am honoring their memory, that I loved them and they me and therefore I need to be the good person they believed in when they were alive. Your family is no different; they knew, more than anyone, how much you loved them." He said with his own measure of strength as he meant to convince them both of such a statements.

She shook her head a little. "Maybe." She brushed at her face and centered herself, squaring her shoulders. It was clear to J'onn that she didn't want to talk about it any longer, and he had no intention of pushing her to. He had said what he had to say and she had listened; what she did with it, he hoped, would be of a benefit to her. "Did we win?" She asked with a bit of biting snark in her voice, clearing having arrogantly anticipated the answer.

"We did." He said with a small nod.

"Good. I was sort of counting on you." She stood up and J'onn did the same. She watched him rise before she snorted in disbelief. "You gonna tell me I need to lay back down again, aren't you? It's a waste of your breath, J'onn. You might as well just stop." She snapped before taking a step toward the door. "Or are you going to follow me and make sure I'm okay?" She challenged him as she exited straight out in the front yard, not waiting for an answer as she left him in the living room. She looked out across the front street where the sun was just peeking up over the horizon.

"I love the shadows at this hour. They're fresh still." She explained in awe, taking in a deep breath of the crisp morning air. Her eyes had flicked down to where his shadow was on the ground for a moment before a smile fluttered on her face. "New."

He couldn't possibly understand what she was saying in actuality as he had no way to experience it, but in theory he got her point. Her abilities were raw nearest to dawn in the way that a person was best rested when the sun came up. There was still a tiny bit of chill in the air. They were quite a while, just standing on the porch as they watched the world around them; it was peaceful and serene, the sort of state nature was meant to be in. Even chirping birds could be heard from a nearby tree and he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a small lizard scurry across the driveway. "I wonder if there are visiugo hidden on my world." He marveled aloud to himself as he thought of the beauty just in the front yard of her home. How, if they were creatures born from nature, they must be the ones responsible for this beauty. She shrugged a little, unsure herself.

"I bet you miss your friends. I would miss mine no matter how much of a pain in the ass they are." She still seemed weak to J'onn, her voice was certainly not as sharp as it normally was and there was a certain air of sadness about her that he couldn't quite place. "Have you thought about them? About your home?" She asked him. He opened his mouth to respond, but she reached out and lightly touched his forearm. "No no...don't tell me. Just do it - think about them." She said to him and her head dipped down to look at the ground. His dark shadow seemed to draw her attention, though he saw nothing but an elongated version of himself.

She chuckled and in a second, as if she was leaping from a diving board into a pool, went head first into his shadow. J'onn tried not to move, though he instantly wanted to reach out for her. A second later, he saw her hand appear in the center. Her fingers wiggled for his attention and J'onn reached forward; taking her hand. He felt his head swim as he was jerked forward into his own shadow and his stomach lurched. It was like he was falling and flying at the same moment, the rushing sensation of wind consuming him but without the presence of. This time he landed on his feet and the sun, bright and warm, washed over his green skin. It was not the same hour of the day, but instead mid afternoon as the sun was high in the sky. The grass was green and the sky painted bright blue with a smattering of white, puffy clouds like cotton balls pasted on construction paper. He glanced over his shoulder. The forest, in which he'd lost himself in, was standing unchanged. The park was sprawled out before him and people, laughing and enjoying one another, was a welcomed view. It was as if no time had passed, even though it felt like a lifetime for J'onn. "Wow...if I were you, I wouldn't have helped. Not with this sort of paradise." She told him glancing up at him. "This place...no wonder there's a whole gay league of justice. No offense to Shiki and Daichi or anything." She waved a hand. "Seems sort of stupidly unreal with all that picturesque view. Like a Norman Rockwell painting, only he never got the green Martian part down right."

J'onn frowned, unsure of what she meant but he long ago accepted that he simply wouldn't understand some of the things Joey said. Instead, he focused on the fact that they were there at all - so easily. "How did you - "

She cut him off though. "Ah Murph might have found you, but I've always been the lure. I was the one that led you over there. I was the shadow on the ground...remember? I had to be your guide back though, you couldn't go through the Dreaming all by yourself. But to bring you physically, I had to come first. You're the anchor to this world and needed to be thinking about it to lead me where we needed to go. What with being the hero and all that nonsense. Heroes are meant to have happy endings." She told him, her eyes set on his face.

"You knew all along how to return me to my proper home?" He asked, astonished as he spent so much time worrying too about how he would return.

She nodded and shrugged. "Something like that."

He smiled, the same mild grin that he did whenever he was amused or contented by something. However, his smile faded and a serious expression was turned her way. "And now you will return?" It struck him so suddenly that though he was now home, she wasn't and therefore it would be time to truly say the goodbye he meant to. Only now, he was unprepared for it.

Her expression melted into a more stoic look of sympathy that surprised J'onn. "It's not that easy for me...more than one of you can exist, but not me. There'll always be a Joey, but none like me here...with this spirit. With my power...that spirit only lives inside one of me, it only exists in one place. My spirit, what makes me understand shadows, came from the Dreaming - that subconscious place that connects everyone and everything - including all those worlds. There's only one Dreaming, just like there's only one Joey in this fashion. But ah well, I was thinking I needed a change of scenery anyhow." She said in a light, passing and dismissive way. J'onn could feel her - he could see it on her face - she was sad. He could hear it in her mind no matter what her words said she was the conflicting woman he knew her to be.

"You can't return." He stated simply, his eyes widened a little in surprised by how much she had done just to get him home. "You can't and you knew you wouldn't be able to. Even before you took me...before you brought me to your world, you know you'd always have to take me back." His voice wasn't accusatory, but sincere. He was touched by her dedication, in awe of her sacrifice. "You didn't even want to say goodbye to them? Your friends?"

"I've said enough goodbyes in my life, J'onn. I may not have gone this time if I had to say goodbye again." She gave him a little shrug. _Of course I knew. I knew I had to do what needed to be done. I knew that when my physical body stepped in this world, I'd be trapped here with no anchor and no way to return to my world. _"Well I wasn't going to make you stay there. That wouldn't be much of a heroic ending for the hero now would it? Heroes need to catch a break sometimes." She sniffed, folding her arms over her chest as there was a hint of tease in her voice.

"I'm no more a hero than you. What about your ending?" He asked her in soft concern. "For as much as you claim you don't care and you are unhelpful, that you'd let people die or you won't save them again, you've given yourself for your whole world. For your friends, your family, for me. It's quite contradictory. I believe what you call cowardice, most would call that a martyr."

"I believe you have to die to be a martyr. It's in the rules. I don't plan on dying anytime soon." She added lazily, but her mind was on fire with thoughts. He could tell she was gritting her teeth slightly. _Who said I didn't do it for me?_J'onn found himself confused by such a thought and therefore distracted by her unwilling confession to him. Her eyes were on him, and his on her, just as a Frisbee wheeled between them. Joey took a step back as a handsome, shirtless man slipped between them.

"Thanks." He said as J'onn picked up the Frisbee and handed it over to him. "J'onn J'onzz, right? Part of the league responsible for all this?" He beamed brightly at the Martian as if in greeting and thanks for the park itself. J'onn nodded, having found himself awed by the man standing there before him. The man wheeled around to look at Joey and he smiled brightly at her, but J'onn watched her shrink a little in her spot. There was fear in her, a sort of panic that swept across her mind though it didn't show fully on her face.

"Are you one too? Have we met?" He asked her and she shook her head swiftly.

_Yes._

"No. I just have one of those faces." She nodded at him, gesturing to herself. "It's Joey. I'm Joey."

"Layton." He said pointed at himself and looking between them. "Well, it was nice meeting you both. Have fun in the park, I know I am. Thanks again too, these pesky little things get away from me easy. Have a good one!" He said cheerfully and waved them off with a flick of his wrist as if in a salute. Silence settled around them for a moment as they watched Layton run off to get back to his game.

"Why did you lie?" J'onn finally asked and Joey looked up to him, her nostrils flared a little at the question. "Perhaps, this was your chance to earn your hero's ending. The happy ending you had before."

"That was a different life in which such an ending would matter to me. I had it once, I don't want it again. Besides, I'm not meant for it and neither is he...but I'm sure visiugo live on your planet." She watched after Layton for a moment and sort of laughed in a bitter way. "Besides, what would I say without sounding completely off my rocker? Remember me? The woman you loved in another world - if he's anything like the Layton I knew, he'll think I'm crazy." She arched an eyebrow at him, but J'onn seemed disappointed and she frowned in return.

"Then when do you catch your break?" He asked, oddly on his tongue, as he used her verbiage.

She snorted and shook her head. "Are you that retarded?" She asked sharply, but her face softened and she seemed to regret what she'd said. "What makes you think I didn't catch a break of my own? A second chance...?" She glanced down at his hand before she reached forward and took it lightly in hers. "To make it right this time? For the sake of sounding like some campy romantic comedy, I'll offer it, just because I'm not ready to make the same mistake twice. I love you, J'onn. For all your noble, unrealistic altruism and helpfulness in the face of all things dangerous. I just thought you should know. Maybe I learned something and I'm not going to screw it up again and not say what should be said when it needs to be. See? I do know about all things precious; and if my break isn't going to come looking for me, I'm more than happy to go ahead and make it myself. You should do the same."

His hand closed around hers, holding her smaller hand tightly.

"Perhaps."

* * *

Author's Note: Forgive the length of this chapter, it sort of ran away with us. There was a small part of us that was sad this was over. We left it, intentionally up to the reader's interpretation. We hope you don't mind. If you want our input on what we think happened we'd be glad to share. However this story, for all intents and purposes, ends here. ^_^ We hope you enjoyed it. We had fun writing it and we truly hope you liked the conclusion. Please, we'd be delighted to hear what you think. Again, thank you for reading.

Anahnee: Again, thank you so much for all you have offered us to by way of this story. From your constant reassurance that we are maintaining a quality with our characters (and the occasional reminder when we deviate), to your unique understanding of our world and dedication to reviewing, we are truly grateful for you. Thank so much! We hope that this end finds you well and we have continued to produce something you can enjoy.


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